Disclaimer: Yep...still don't own it. None of it.


Chapter Nine:

"Alohomora." The door latch clicked open with the simple spell. Moonlight flooded across the white tile floors, casting dancing shadows along the opposite wall of the window. It was a simple room, nothing much to clutter it; exactly as it should be. There were two beds with the standard white linen sheets and pillow; simple and easy to clean. One bed was empty; the other contained the woman that was needed for this mission to work.

The man tip-toed across the floor not making a sound in fear of the nurse that sat behind the closed door at the other end of the ward. He slipped between the closed curtains and looked down into the face of the young woman. Her black velvet curls lay fanned out around her head on the pillow which meant that they had bathed her recently to wash the sweat off of her. Her eyes were shut, but in a more peaceful manner than the other times he had visited her; perhaps she was improving.

He pulled the chair up next to her bed and grabbed her small delicate hand in his own. A smile crossed his face as he looked down on her for the next hour. The routine was the same every night; apparate to St. Mungo's, sneak into the ward that held her captive, and hold her hand for an hour, just to let her know he was still there. He had read it in a muggle book, that if people in a coma were talked to and held then they had a better chance to pull through. He didn't know if it would work, but she had once said that muggles didn't get the credit they deserved.

Laying his head down next to her forearm he sighed and rubbed his thumb across her palm. It was cold and sweaty. "Hello. It has been another hectic day without you by my side. I don't know how I do it. Mr. Longbottom blew up another cauldron today while we reviewed for the N.E.W.T. test at the end of the year, and to think it was a simple Drought of Living Death." He moves his head to look up at her, see if she has responded in any way. She hasn't, and he knows she won't, but every night, he looks up just to check; just to be safe for he knows that if he doesn't look up he might miss something. That is the way the world works.

He puts his head back down and his eyes close, pulling forward his memory for the night. This is the next step of their nightly routine: telling her a memory, a memory he holds close to his heart. "Do you remember when you were twelve and almost got expelled from Hogwarts? That was a good time, and you were lucky I am a convincing man and Dumbledore allowed you to stay. That was a funny day. You came to lunch in the Great Hall dressed in that crazy summer outfit, that short denim skirt and bright red tank-top, despite the fact that it was the middle of January. Then you proceeded to open a blanket, fill up two plates with everything, grab Mark's hand with you and eat in the middle of the floor of the Hall. Everyone watched you. Some hated you for dating the enemy, some wanted to be you for dating the enemy, and some were just too amazed with your stunt to think of anything. It ended up starting a huge fight, over honor, pride, justice. But you did it anyway, knowing what trouble it would cause; you stood up for what you believed in. You reached past inter-house conflicts and dated the enemy, without a care in the world what it did to you or what others might have thought. I doubt you even liked Mark much, he was more just a way to prove your point, but that point was proven."

It was funny, with his head next to the woman he loved, how he could remember every scene with her in it. He doesn't remember much about your earlier teaching days, except that smiling face that graced his House, his classroom, and his heart. He snaps his head up, tears rolling down his cheeks, knowing he is being to sappy; knowing that this won't get her through this, but it might get him through it. Here she was, breathing, alive, right in front of him, yet he felt as if she were dead. He felt as if he would never walk into his classroom again to have that bright smile and those twinkling eyes smiling up at him from the forbidden area behind his desk. His heart-wrenched sob rang through-out the hospital ward and he sat still for a moment to make sure he hadn't awoken the nurse on duty. It was time to go, he knew this. Leaning down and placing a kiss on her cheek, he whispers into her ear. "I love you, Leah Lestrange, never forget that." He places the chair back in its proper place, slips back through the curtains, and leaves the hospital wing without a glance back.


Severus paced back and forth in anticipation to how the meeting was going up in Dumbledore's office. Since he wasn't an official member of the Sacred Six or the Guardian Dumbledore didn't think his presence was required. Severus knew that Dumbledore was explaining the plan that they had come up with to the six students, attempting to convince them that they were needed in order to rescue Leah from her strange coma. It seemed that he was not the only night time visitor to her closed ward, and that another man was sneaking in to give her a potion that kept her in the coma. The only problem, the potion was untraceable, and they couldn't figure out the cure. However, the man was a moron and it was easy to figure out who he was. Jackson Mable.

He growled in anger as he thought about the major pain in the ass, Jackson Mable. He swore on his own fucking grave that he would hunt him down and kill him. Force him to suffer worse than Leah suffered. Kill him painfully and slowly. His only consolation was that she was being kept in this coma, being kept in it to prevent her from coming back with twice as much strength, fueled by revenge, and ruining the Dark Lord's plans. The nurses had said that without this potion controlling her, meaning if they found the anecdote, she would be up and about in a few days, good as new. It was his job to find that potion and get it to Leah, before it was too late and the Dark Lord completed his mission. Too bad they didn't know what the mission was so they could just stop it, and get the potion from Mable then, but no, that was too simple. Instead, they had to come up with some plan to track down the jack ass, get the anecdote, and then rush it back to Leah. Little did they know, Severus would be staying back to finish the little twirp off.

Jackson Mable reminded him of someone, but he couldn't really remember who. He stopped his pacing as the marble staircase opened and he heard Draco calling down for him to come up. He slowly climbed the spiral staircase, his worry and fear climbing with it. If this didn't work then they were fucked, royally. The Dark Lord would get his mission completed, putting him a step ahead in the war, meaning Harry might have to face him without Leah's needed help. After that, who knows what would happen, and according to Dumbledore if the Dark Lord completed this mission, they would have no more use for keeping Leah alive, and kill her. Severus didn't quite understand why they needed her alive now, but as long as she was alive, he was content.

He sat in the only empty chair next to Neville and stared apprehensively across the cluttered desk at Dumbledore, waiting for him to speak. Severus shifted in his chair a few times, directing glances at the different students in the room, wondering why the hell they were sitting here in silence. In the last few months he had grown to hate silence, and would do anything to make it stop. Sensing his nervousness Dumbledore spoke.

"Well, it seems you all understand why you are here." Everyone in the room nodded. "Alright, then I suppose I can explain exactly what we are going to do. For the next month, all of you will report at seven p.m. sharp to the Room of Requirement to be trained in the areas that you were chosen for. It is your job to get Severus through the tasks set before you, so he may retrieve the anecdote to revive Leah."

He turned his head towards the Gryffindor section of the room. "Hermione Granger, you will be taught in ways of logic, solving puzzles and such, and Professor Vector will be your tutor. Neville Longbottom, you will taught how to judge events by the stars, allowing us to gage when we should make this happen; your tutor will be Professor Sinistra. Dean Thomas, your area of expertise will be in Healing, and Madame Pomfrey will be your tutor."

The old man paused for breath, turning his attention now to the Slytherins. "Draco Malfoy, you will be working with Professor Snape and making many potions that may come in handy on this expedition. Pansy Parkinson, you will paired up with Professor McGonnagal and will be working on any transfiguration spells that might be needed. And last, but not least, Blaise Zabini, you will work with Professor Flitwick and enhance your charms abilities."

He looked at all of them as they nodded, jotting down the time and place, and who they'd be working with. "Oh, and one last thing, on Wednesday nights Professor Lupin, Professor Snape, and Mister Potter will be helping you hone your Defense against the Dark Arts skills. You will be needing it."

With that he shooed them from his office, the Gryffindors battling the Slytherins for who could make it out the door first, pushing and shoving to become the winner. Severus shook his head as he padded down the staircase after them and into the corridor. He wondered whether or not they would be able to pull together and work as a team.

He thought about all that was said back in Dumbledore's office; how he would help Mr. Malfoy and his potion's making; how him, Lupin, and Mr. Potter would help everyone and their Defense skills. Then it hit him. Jackson Mable reminded him of Peter Pettigrew. A small, strange man who betrayed his best friends for fame and power, even though it would never come to him. On the walk back down to the dungeons Severus was overcome with hatred towards both men. One who had tormented his school years only to turn on his best friends- Severus had never been fond of the four friends, but when he discovered that James and Lily Potter's deaths were because of the betrayal of their best friend, his regards for them sky rocketed- and one who had betrayed his best friend for the same reasons, but instead of causing her death, instead kept her in a coma, rotting away while life happened around her.

A/N: I am finally learning how to use this program! Ah-ha-ha! Oh, and read/review, please.