Fanfiction based in the world of Harry Potter, created by JKR. Her characters are hers. Original characters are mine. No pecuniary rewards. Please see first chapter for full disclaimers and description.

Thank you to my Betas, Elaine and JL. Any remaining errors are my own.

Chapter 52: Paying the Price

"Albus, I would like to get inside Severus' quarters, please," she said firmly to the portrait. Severus had heavily warded their adjoining doors sometime after Albus' death, probably due to their row. She was in no humor to spend hours trying to work her way through them.

To her surprise, he nodded and opened without question. Once inside, he turned his chair to face her. His voice was as sad as his face and she realized he was crying.

"I don't know why you haven't come before now. He told me what he was going to do. I see now why you didn't want to share your notes with anyone—what use is it if we each sacrifice ourselves to save the ones we love, if those people just repeat the sacrifice? Who is left?

"He's gone then?"

She realized the portrait had no way of knowing he was still alive. Remus had been very cautious to keep the portraits in Grimmauld place privacy-warded. She didn't want to lie to him, but she might need his cooperation, so she shrugged evasively.

"I wanted everything to work out for you two. I wanted you to get married again and adopt Katrina and have a dozen children of your own. If anyone deserved to finally find some happiness in life, it was Severus. Do something for me, Rowena? Make certain the information I gave you in that Pensieve still comes to light? At least let him finally get that Order of Merlin posthumously?"

She nodded around the lump in her throat and blinked back tears.

"Albus, I'm sorry to do this, but I need to Ward you for a while. You'll understand later, but I need to close this side of the painting. I'm expecting Remus to come, please let him in, but no one else."

He looked at her curiously, but nodded and turned the chair again so his back was to her, and she warded it.

"Rowena, this is never going to work," Remus said, looking at her gravely. His usually friendly face was tight with worry, adding stark emphasis to the smile lines by his mouth and eyes. He as not smiling now. "You can't ask me to help you walk blindly into death!"

"I'm not going blindly and I have no intention of dying," she said, standing in front of Severus' potions cupboard, though she was looking at the contents blankly. He labeled things in some sort of code which was a mixture of characters from other languages and magical runes. No doubt he knew exactly what was what, but it was gibberish to her. "And I'm not going to let HIM die to try to protect me. It will work. That's how Severus got out this time already. I just need you to help me get in there. If you won't do it, I'll ask Harry."

This she said somewhat threateningly and Remus had no doubt she at least believed Harry would help her. He couldn't deny she was probably right. Not all Severus' complaints about the boy being overly heroic, overly reckless and all too willing to act first, think later were unfounded!

"You've got to give me some hope of your safety, then," he said anxiously, crossing his arms over his chest. "What's to stop them from killing you outright the moment you get there?"

"They know I'm in the Order, they'll probably want to try and get information out of me. That should be good enough to prevent an on-the-spot killing. After that… we wing it." She turned from the potion cupboard to try and offer him a reassuring smile. "Nothing is guaranteed, Remus. What I DO know is if I don't do something, he's going to kill Severus. I'm not willing to stand by and watch that and do nothing. Would you, if it was Tonks?"

He sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair, looking at her imploringly. His shoulders slumped in defeat, and he shook his head.

"No," he said. He closed his eyes and rubbed them tiredly with his hand. They had been arguing this plan for half an hour, but he had been unable to find an alternate solution. She had a rational explanation for his every objection.

He tried once more.

"Well, let's go back to this Polyjuice idea, then. Why don't I take YOUR place instead of Snape's?"

"No. Your Occlumency's no better than mine is. He'd see through the deception at once and he'd kill you and still kill Severus anyway. Besides, I don't think one hour is going to cut it, even if you held your Occlumency, you'd be given away when it wore off. I don't suppose they're going to allow me to hang onto a hip flask.

"Joseph!" she called, staring back into the indecipherable cupboard. The little elf appeared at once. Remus was sitting in one of Severus' leather chairs near his desk, currently leaning his elbows on his knees and holding his head in his hands.

"Joseph, which of these is a Polyjuice base? I also need his newest multi-purpose poison antidote and another Veritaserum-antidote disk."

The house elf unerringly found what she needed and blinked at her expectantly.

"Is we allowed to go back and visits Miss Katie, Miss? We is not liking not following Master Sevvie's last directions, even if we is your house elves now."

"Tomorrow, Joseph," she said, smiling gently. "Katrina misses you, too. You can go back there tomorrow morning, but not before eight o'clock, okay?"

"Thank you, Miss," he said and vanished with a 'pop'.

"He thinks Severus is dead?" Remus asked and she nodded, giving him a pale shadow of her impish grin.

"Rowena you should have been a Marauder," he said, shaking his head with a worried chuckle.

"Severus says I should have been sorted into Slytherin House," she returned, clutching the bottles the elf had given her. She suddenly looked very lost and alone.

"Honey, aren't you scared?"

"Terrified!" she said with a shaky laugh which added weight to the word. "But I'm a lot more scared of not doing it, of trying to live my life knowing that Severus and I did nothing to try and stop it. This is our only chance. I think I can do it. I have confidence in Harry's ability to help me get out.

"You can stop sedating Severus so heavily as soon as I'm gone. I just want to make sure there's no way he can stop me. He can help Harry. I don't really understand what they're doing, but that's how Harry got Severus out. With both of them working together… well, I've got a better chance than anyone else would have.

"It's not just about Severus and me anyway, you know. If I don't do this, if You-Know-Who doesn't drink that potion, then it's going to be a lot harder to win the war. I don't know much about how it's supposed to work, but I know Severus, Harry and Albus all believe it's our best hope for victory. Look how many people are being hurt or dying everyday right now. What right do I have to sit safe at home when there's something I can do which might make a difference?"

"Alright, Rowena, tell me what you want me to do," he said resignedly.

"You'll have to let me Apparate us to the Malfoy's," she said anxiously as she adjusted Severus' robes around him. They were back at Grimmauld Place and Remus had just taken a draught of Polyjuice potion into which Rowena had placed one of Severus hairs, taken from the injured man as he lay unconscious a few feet away.

"Bloody hell, I ache everywhere," Remus said, rubbing at sore muscles and bruises.

"I know. I'm sorry. We had to use hair from him now—if he looks too healthy after what he just endured Lucius would get suspicious. I'm already worried your lycanthropy will heal you too fast."

"It doesn't seem to be. Must be because they aren't 'real' injuries to me, eh?" Remus looked at her from behind Severus' eyes, though the fair skin still bore the yellowish green marks of fading bruises around the eyes and nose which made the dark shadows under his eyes seem even more pronounced.

She shrugged distractedly.

"Frown a little. Severus never looks that relaxed, certainly not in a situation like this. That's better. You need to look a bit more intimidating, even though you're hurt. Try and sound threatening, if you can," she said worriedly. "Hold your shoulders straighter."

"Rowena, I'm about to drop my only sister off to an unknown and very possibly deadly fate. I think I can manage to sound irritable and threatening. I'm not a total wimp!" he said with exasperation—in a face which still looked too mild to really BE Severus, and not for the first time she worried Lucius would catch the discrepancies. They screamed "Remus" at her, in spite of him wearing Severus' body and clothing.

"No, Remus, you're not a wimp. You are also not Severus Snape."

"I've known him long enough; I can pull it off for as long as this will probably take. Have some faith in me." He did shift a little in the robes, made his shoulders and back more rigid and let a bored look settle over the borrowed features. Better.

She nodded.

"Okay, then. If something happens, there's a note for you in my quarters. Joseph is supposed to get it if you ask. Albus left me information to exonerate Severus if the Ministry gives him trouble, I'll want you to make sure that comes out."

"Nothing is going to happen," he said firmly, as though trying to make himself believe it.

"I have to plan for contingencies," she said, setting her wand on the table. "Here's my wand. I'll take my Dark Wand with me, but I'm sure they'll take it away. That one can be replaced easily enough. I don't want to lose my good one."

She was very fond of her wand, as any witch or wizard was. It had seemed very incongruous to her at the time, when this wand 'chose' her. Willow, which was not surprising. Common, soft and flexible, not something one would associate with strength in general, though very good for charms work. The wood seemed to fit, or at least fit how she felt about herself at the time—and always had done.

It was the core which had seemed incongruous to her at the time. She had only recently begun to think that perhaps it was more appropriate than she had realized.

Dragon heartstring. Arguably the strongest material Mr. Ollivander used to make magical wands. It was even an unusual combination of wood and core—or at least so Mr. Ollivander had said. Usually the willow is too weak to house that strong of a core, it is more compatible with Unicorn hair.

She desperately hoped she'd live up to the seemingly untapped potential her wand implied. If ever she needed the core of inner strength that dragon heartstring suggested, it was now!

"Well, I'm as ready as I'm going to be," she said nervously, fidgeting with the Veritaserum antidote disk she had just placed against her cheek. She drank the poison antidote as well. "The clock is ticking on your potion. Shall we?"

"Severus, Rowena, this is a pleasant surprise," said Lucius Malfoy smoothly as he opened the door to his enormous home.

"I realize the visit is unscheduled. I trust it is not unwelcome." Remus said in a fairly decent impression of Severus' bored tones he used with Lucius.

"Of course not, Severus, do come in, both of you. You are always welcome to our home," he stepped aside and there was a hint of definite approval as he escorted them to the elegant parlor where Narcissa was sitting, working on her correspondence.

"Severus! Darling! You look awful, you need a nice holiday," she said with a wicked smile, clearly knowing full well why 'Severus' would be looking ill.

"Narcissa,' he said with a very slight incline of his head. Rowena's heart was pounding in fear, but so far she was incredibly impressed with how well he was able to imitate Severus' mannerisms. "I hardly have time for a holiday in the middle of term."

"Of course," Lucius said. "Will you stay for dinner?"

Already 'Severus' was shaking his head.

"I am merely providing escort. I must return to my 'sick bed' before I am missed," he said sardonically. "I informed Professor Lupin you have desired a visit to discuss Draco's plans after he has completed Hogwarts. He has expressed interest in Research, as you are no doubt aware. Today the Professor finds herself with some leisure time."

"Lovely!" Narcissa exclaimed with warm insincerity, turning her attention to Rowena.

Lucius excused himself from the women and walked 'Severus' back to the door.

"I have to tell you, Severus, I was beginning to think you wouldn't do it. I thought perhaps you had truly gone soft for her," he said quietly, near the door.

'Severus' merely raised a haughty brow.

"You realize it will be exceedingly difficult for me to maintain my end of our… agreement? Considering where she is going? Surely you release me from our bargain?"

"I release you from nothing. I expect you merely to do your best, as will I."

Lucius gave a small nod.

"Who knows she is here?"

"No one. She came to visit the child. I was taken to her brother's house for treatment—I still have not been 'cleared' medically to return to Hogwarts. The happy family is out for the day. She expected me to still be unconscious—as no doubt I will be when I return and consume the potions I am expected to use during my recovery. No one saw us together. I believe she consented to come with me because she feared upsetting me if she refused, in my 'weakened' state."

Lucius smiled evilly.

"I do not believe you have a 'weakened state' if you are conscious, Severus," he said. "What did you tell her to get her to come here?"

"We have been at odds lately, but that does not mean she has ceased to trust me," he said dryly, "I told her precisely what I told your wife. She has no idea what she faces, but it was no hardship to get her away. The difficulty has been in accomplishing it without witnesses, as I have tried to explain to our Master."

"Ah, well, he is not known to be reasonable, is he? Very well, then, get back before you are missed. I think he will be very pleased with you, Severus. Very pleased indeed."

'Severus' merely nodded his head once and left.

Narcissa poured tea, which Rowena was too frightened and nervous to drink. Would Remus remember the 'story' they'd agreed upon? What was taking so long, was Lucius suspicious?

She never thought she'd be relieved to see Lucius Malfoy enter a room, but when he walked in looking as suave and cultured as always, she breathed more easily.

"Rowena, I failed to greet you properly when you first arrived," Lucius said, smiling his perfect, friendly smile and holding out his hand to for her to shake. As soon as her hand closed in his, his smile became more savage.

"Portus," he said.

His signet ring was a Portkey.

She fell on the rough terrain as they stopped spinning, though he had not let go of her hand and he did not fall.

"Accio wand," he said, catching her dark wand easily. "You can cooperate with me, Rowena, or we can make this unpleasant. I have a task to do and I intend to fulfil it. I suggest that as soon as I release your hand, you do that nasty little burning flesh spell you have, for all the good it might do you."

"Where are we?" she asked dazedly, nodding her understanding to his instructions and rising to her feet. He released her hand only long enough to grab it with the other. It might have looked like they were lovers out on a stroll except for how painfully tight he was gripping her fingers.

"The seat of the new Power of the Wizarding World, my dear," he said with a malicious smile. In a few strides they had passed some sort of concealment charm so she was facing an enormous building, at least twice the size of the Malfoy's home. She had no time to make note of windows, doors, or even significant landmarks around her as she was forcibly tugged inside. He dragged her through a series of corridors until she had lost all sense of direction. At last they entered a huge room, not unlike a throne room of old—complete with dais, throne and someone sitting regally upon it.

He pulled her hand up behind her back to use the leverage to push her forward in front of him. When they reached the throne, he kicked his knee against the back of hers causing her to stumble. He shoved as she struggled to regain her balance so she fell to hands and knees a few feet before the dais which held the throne.

"She is here, my Lord," Lucius said unnecessarily. "He brought her to my home himself, not an hour ago."

"Excellent," the high voice said triumphantly.

Huddled on the floor, Rowena trembled violently, terror gripping at her chest so tightly she could scarce draw breath. She felt cold as ice, trembling violently, as though she had just been dropped into the bottomless depths of an icy sea of abject horror. Her heart hammered painfully as her lungs struggled to draw terrified, shallow, panting breaths. She had to focus! Concentrate! She ignored the conversation occurring above her and muttered softly, under her breath.

"Navitas texi."

Severus woke in the dark silence. For a time, he was disoriented as to where he was, or indeed, why he was even alive.

Potter. He remembered that much of the werewolf's explanation. Potter and Rowena. Somehow they had managed to effect his survival, his 'escape'. He was not grateful for it!

Then, he remembered the Owl, the message, and the pain in his Mark which had caused unconsciousness again. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but he felt very little pain, so he must have been out long enough for a great deal of healing to occur. The Mark was not black, as it would be from a recent summons or the pain he had experienced, but simply a dark red against his pale skin.

How long?

Why was the Mark quiescent now? He had not complied with the instructions, he ought to have been tortured to death through the connection, perhaps even given the small mercy of not regaining consciousness enough to be fully aware of the pain.

He felt around in the darkness. The table next to the bed was littered with potion bottles… and a wand. It did not feel like HIS wand, but at the moment he was grateful for any wand.

"Lumos," he said softly. His voice was even back in his control. It felt slightly strained, but it had nothing of the hoarseness and pain, which normally followed the hours of screaming. He had lost at least several days to the haze of unconsciousness.

It appeared the darkness was not because of the hour, but because someone had charmed the room and windows to be as dark as possible. The clock on the mantelpiece said 8:30 and the face of it had a small sun just rising, so he assumed that indicated morning—unless the lycanthrope and his bride were negligent in the small details of their housekeeping duties.

He felt weary to the bone, heart and soul. He meant what he had told Rowena—he had no desire to be a martyr for the cause. But he was also tired of being the whipping boy. In spite of his regrets of things unfinished, he had almost looked forward to his death this time as a final rest, the end to his torment.

Why was he alive and why wasn't he being summoned or tortured for it?

He looked at the unfamiliar wand in his hand.

No, not unfamiliar.

Why was Rowena's wand sitting here, unattended, by his bed? His heart rate began to increase as the questions mounted with no answers. He peered at the potion bottles next to his bed.

Sedatives. Analgesics. Healing draughts. Regenerative potions, including ones specific to numerous internal organs—stomach, spleen, liver, kidney, heart, lung.

Bloody hell, he must have been a mess.

They were all neatly labeled with John Lupin's very precise handwriting and directions for use.

No, not all.

Why was there a bottle of Polyjuice potion—HIS Polyjuice potion, among the bottles on the table?

He sniffed it. He kept several bottles of the base on hand at all times, just awaiting the addition of a hair. It was almost a prerequisite for a spy. This wasn't just the muddy brown base anymore, though. It was a deep, dark blue. Where had he seen this shade of blue in Polyjuice before?

Tight bands of pressure constricted around his chest as a plethora of emotion—none of it pleasant—threatened to overwhelm him. Rage, panic, confusion—surely this did not mean what he was thinking? Who would have agreed to such a thing?

He gripped Rowena's wand tightly.

"Accio MY wand," he said with a bite of anger to his voice. He heard glass breaking in the distance and then waved her wand to open the door just as his wand zoomed through it. He pocketed Rowena's wand along with the remaining Polyjuice potion, and returned to Hogwarts.

"Severus! You're alive!" Albus' portrait jumped from his chair and if he could have come off the canvas he no doubt would have crushed the younger man in an exuberant embrace.

"Open the bloody door, Albus," Severus snapped. The door opened.

His things were in disarray—not that anyone besides Severus Snape would notice. He went straight to his private potion cupboard and immediately knew what was missing.

Two Veritaserum antidote discs. Veritaserum. Polyjuice base. A poison antidote.

"What the bloody hell has been going on here?" he raged to the empty room.

Three tiny house elves popped in almost at once, all looking at him with small mouths hanging open, huge eyes impossibly wide, ears perked up in astonishment.

"Master Sevvie! Master Sevvie, you is alive!" Henry, the most emotional of the three would have run forward and hugged him as the portrait wished to do, had Severus not spoken as soon as he saw them.

"Whom have you allowed into my private stores and why?" he asked in low, dangerous tones.

Three pairs of ears drooped as they all looked at each other guilty.

"Only the Mistress, Master. You said you is not coming back. You said we is belonging to her now. She is asking us for potions. You said anything she wants in here is hers. We is not disobeying orders, Master Sevvie—is we?" Joseph asked, wringing his hands.

"I let her in too, Severus, without the password. You did say you weren't coming back and she was to be given access to your rooms."

Anger, which had been building within him since the moment he had regained consciousness, was building to a fever pitch. Anger, his instinctive reaction to manage fear, his most familiar coping mechanism. He felt as though he were a pressure-cauldron, left too long on the fire. Soon, he would explode.

"Where is Rowena?" he asked in quiet, dangerous, smooth-as-silk tones.

"She left the castle with Remus on Wednesday. Minerva told me she'd privately arranged her course work so as not to be needed to teach the rest of the week, though the students were not to be told unless her absence became necessary." Albus said. "I believe… from bits of information I've gathered from Minerva and Remus, I believe she made arrangements to meet with Lucius Malfoy."

The molten magma, which was the volcano of his barely contained rage, erupted then, savagely.

CRASH!

He grabbed the nearest of the many glass vials lining the shelves of his quarters and hurled it violently at the portrait. It shattered spectacularly against the frame, showering the wall and a portion of the canvas in sickly orange liquid and the remnants of rat-brain.

The portrait didn't even blink. He rounded on his still-guilty looking house elves.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Numerous bottles sailed through the air toward them, though they also did not move, flinch, or duck. They merely stood there, looking exceedingly miserable. None of the projectiles struck their presumed targets, though they shattered noisily against walls and furnishings very near by.

"Do you have any idea what you have done, you crackpot old Fool!" he snarled as he turned back to face the portrait.

"She could be dead by now!" Severus's countenance was nearly unrecognizable from the savagery of his rage. Another glass bottle shattered against the wall next to the portrait. "You let her go!"

Albus remained supremely calm and unruffled, though his tone of concern was genuine.

"Severus, my friend. I did not 'let' her go anywhere. She went on her own. I cannot be certain where she went or why. My information sources have become far more limited of late. I don't even know what she did once she was inside here." He sighed, "She warded me. I had not realized how inconvenient that is, from a portrait's standpoint."

"She went on her own?" he sneered. "I'm sure it was an 'accident' that she found out what to do? Why did she not believe I was DEAD when the rest of you seemed to?" Severus's voice was an anguished roar.

"I believe Harry…"

More flying glass and an acidly bitter sneer interrupted that statement.

"Potter… how perfect. Another chance for Boy Wonder to prove he is better than his evil Potions Master, right? He blames me for his parent's deaths. He blames me for Sirius Black's death. Hell, I think he even blames me for YOUR death—and now he will get to blame me for Rowena's…"

His voice cracked, he dropped the bottle he was preparing to throw, and slumped against the wall, his face a mask of pain and anguish. The terror which gripped him was far worse than anything he had ever experienced when it was his own life in danger. He was spiraling in a helpless vortex of savage despair.

He was out of control.

He didn't care.

Nothing he had ever faced in his darkest hours had been as bad as this. Not even close.

"Severus, she is not going to die…"

He swooped up another bottle from the shelf near where he was leaning and hurled it at the placid portrait, sick to death of listening to the shade of Albus trying to placate him. It was only slightly satisfactory when it exploded with another spectacular crash of glass and a splash of glowing greeinish-yellow liquid.

"You don't know that! And who's to say after they've had done with her she won't wish she had died! You don't understand what they're capable of, Albus…"

He would have thrown another vial at the portrait, but it had swung open. To his further rage, Remus Lupin and Harry Potter were standing in the doorway, both looking grim and concerned, but worse—they both looked pityingly at HIM.

Crash! Crash! More bottles flew at the door and shattered against the doorframe. "Get out! I don't need your pity! Lupin, you can have a go at me over your sister later, not today. Potter, get out, just get out."

Lupin spoke first, his voice heavy with his own worry.

"Severus, I'm not here to have a go at you over Rowena. Merlin knows I have enough first hand experience with her to know this isn't your doing. I thought you might like an explanation…"

Crash! Another bottle broke just over Remus's head. Remus' expression of calm compassion did not alter.

"Explanation?" Severus was all but screaming in his rage, "How do you 'explain' sending a defenseless woman to face the Dark Lord? Do not patronize me! I do not want your pity, or your explanations! Get out!"

"He wasn't trying to patronize you, we want to help!" Harry piped up, trying to defend Remus. He flinched painfully when another glass bottle flew just past his right ear to shatter loudly behind him.

"I told you to get out! You can't help! Get out!"

"She wanted me to give you a message. I'm not leaving until I've done it," Harry said, defiantly. Severus' arm stopped in mid-swing in the act of throwing another bottle.

"When did you see her?" His voice dropped in volume to resume an almost normal level of dangerous menace.

"Wednesday afternoon. She came to me and said she had to go away, and you would be angry. She said I had to tell you she'd altered her spell so you could cancel it, but only you—she can't even cancel it herself anymore. She said you'd know what she meant." Harry spoke fast, while Snape was relatively calm and not throwing things, though he realized no one was that poor a shot—Snape had been deliberately missing in all his throws.

Harry had spent enough time with Rowena and inside her 'head' with Occlumency lessons to know the depth of her feelings for Snape. He found it disgusting to say the very least, but there was no denying their sincerity, even since their broken engagement.

Snape leaned against the wall again. The portrait swung closed and Dumbledore regarded the three men and the miserable looking house elves.

"Severus, sit. You are barely well enough to be walking around. This is not helping anything. Sit down."

To everyone's surprise, he did. He leaned his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

"Yes. I know what she means," he said. His voice had been screaming in rage moments before, but now sounded far worse as it was awash in despair. "Foolish girl! She thinks she can stand up to the Dark Lord and hide anything? Her Occlumency's not anywhere near strong enough for that…."

"I think you're wrong, Professor. She's gotten really good these last few months. She's almost as strong as me…" Harry started to say, but Severus interrupted him again with a snort of derision.

"Is that meant to comfort me, Potter? I, who know how abysmal your Occlumency is? I suppose I should thank you for your effort, but I find no comfort in it."

"Try me." Harry said, approaching his chair.

"What?" Severus looked at him incredulously.

"Try me. You have no idea how much I've learned these last few months. You haven't tried to break through in ages—you've just had me be a 'blank slate' when I connect with Voldemort. Maybe when you know how much better I've gotten, you won't be so worried about her. Try me."

"Potter, this is not a good idea. Even in my weakened state I am stronger than your best shields. And in my current mood, who knows what I would do inside your head. I appreciate the offer, surprisingly. But go play somewhere else and leave me be. You have delivered your message. Thank you. Get out."

"Severus," Albus said calmly, "I think you should try. I agree with Harry. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. And I think you could do with a bit of hope right about now."

He made a low growl of disgust, "Fine! Potter, prepare yourself and tell me when you are ready. Take your time, you will need it."

"I'm ready when you are."

"You don't even have your wand out, don't give me that rubbish," he snapped.

"I'm not going to fight you, I'm just going to keep you out."

"Impossible. Fine. Legilimens." Severus produced his wand in a blinding flick of his wrist and cast the incantation at once.

For several long minutes, the room was silent. At last Snape lowered his wand and looked at Harry as though he had never seen him before.

"Nothing. Quite remarkable. You say she is almost as strong?"

"Yeah," Harry grinned. "I really have to work to break through them. Lots of times I don't get through at all anymore."

"Does she know how to filter her thoughts? Did she teach you to allow only what you wish to rise to the surface?"

"Yup. Try again?"

This time Severus didn't wait or offer warning, "Legilimens".

Again silence. In a shorter time than before, Severus broke away. He stood briskly and stood silently brooding over his fire, leaning his head on his arm against the mantelpiece. He looked for all the world like a man trying to collect his emotions. If Harry hadn't known better, he would have said the Professor was trying not to cry!

"I'm sorry, Professor. I just showed you the things I had seen in her mind when we were practicing. I thought… well, I thought you'd like to see them. I didn't mean to upset you…" He had thought showing Snape how much she loved him would have been comforting, but it seemed only to make Snape feel worse. He felt awkward and embarrassed now, and went back to stand by Remus.

"Thank you," Severus said. His voice was hoarse and so quiet as to be barely audible.

Albus insisted again that he sit down. One of the house elves scurried over and provided tea for all of them. Harry looked embarrassed, but nodded at Severus when he glanced at him. Remus waved his wand to remove glass shards from the chairs and sofa in the room and guided Harry back into the room to sit as well.

"I assume since it has been stolen from my private stores, she has the Veritaserum antidote?" Snape asked at last.

"Of course she does, Severus," Remus assured him. "We can't give up hope. She's a strong woman and she went in well prepared. She had a plan, that's where Harry comes in."

He summarized it as briefly as he could and Severus' glance kept returning to Harry.

"How long has she been gone?" he asked softly.

"We went to the Malfoy's Thursday afternoon," Remus said uncomfortably.

She had already been gone two days.

"Malfoy must have been thrilled," Harry said as he met Severus' gaze unflinchingly. "She was with Voldemort in less than an hour. Nobody can touch her—they seem to get burned when they try."

Severus shook his head and snorted softly. How long would that simple charm hold up? Potter continued talking.

"She's in some kind of cell. She's had it rough, but she looks like she's holding up okay, and Voldemort hasn't seen anything. He's given her Veritaserum and questioned her quite a bit about Order stuff and about you. Sometimes he uses Legilimency when he questions her, but not very long. She's done pretty good at making him think her mind is unprotected and I keep nudging that idea back to the front of his mind, you know? So he'll think she's too weak to have to work her over too hard."

Severus nodded.

"Is she injured?"

"I can't really tell—it doesn't seem to be too bad, if she is. I mean, she walks into the room when Voldemort has someone bring her.

"The worst has been when he tried to torture her to get her to drop that spell that keeps them from touching her. I guess she expected that, so she made her spell it so even she couldn't drop it. He could see the truth of that in her mind, when she said couldn't negate it. They've been working on it, but nothing's worked so far so, when they get tired of trying, they do the Cruciatus mostly, though someone there has a big, long whip," Harry said with a shudder.

"That would be Macnair. Go on."

"I think… until they figured out they couldn't touch her, I think they planned to… er… well…" He fidgeted restlessly and his face reddened, unable to articulate the words to match the gruesome idea.

"It is called rape, Potter, and you are no doubt correct in your assumption," Severus said dully. If they negated that spell she'd invented, it was probably still in her future!

"Voldemort said something about not risking tainting pure blood and did some sort of spell at her. He pointed it at her stomach and it seemed to hurt real bad."

"Salpingeruptio?" Severus asked in the same emotionless tone.

"Yeah that sounds about right. What is it?"

"A sterilizing hex. He would not want to risk pregnancy."

"Is it reversible?" Remus asked as he listened to the exchange. Much of the information he knew already, as Harry had been keeping him informed. But with Severus here to round it out—and the dead look on the man's face—it all seemed a great deal worse.

"No idea. I believe that will depend on your father's healing skill. It is not designed to be reversible. The recipient is almost universally quite expendable. It ruptures the fallopian tubes. Potter, continue," Severus said, irritably. It was as though he had to torment himself with every detail—before he would take it out on them that she was there to begin with.

The sad little house elves were quietly cleaning the broken glass throughout the room. Albus listened with an expression of deep concern.

"Well, that's about it, mostly," Harry said. "They haven't fed her anything and they do the Cruciatus a lot, but he is trying to wear her down with time. Malfoy has mentioned a few times that she might be better alive as a hostage and I try to keep that idea toward the front, too, though he resists me with that one and I'm afraid to push too hard and have him feel me."

"Severus, can we go in after her?" Remus asked. "Is there any way we can get to where she is?"

Severus shook his head and rubbed at his left arm irritably, for once angry the Mark was quiet.

"No…" His voice broke again as he spoke, but he appeared to visibly force his emotions under control and continued quickly. "No. The Dark Lord has numerous hideouts. None of his followers know them all, and no one ever knows where he will be next. Lucius has a Portkey which always carries him to wherever the Dark Lord is, but that is a rare 'gift' he bestows only on the most 'worthy'. The Mark draws the Death Eaters to his current location. I will have no way to find him, or her, until he summons me again."

"Well, then, we wait." Albus said conversationally. "Tom has control now and he likes control. It might be a day or two yet before we hear. Minerva had the Daily Prophet announce the apparent kidnapping of our teacher as soon as Remus told her what was going on. Voldemort will like the publicity so I encouraged her to do it as soon as possible. It was in today's paper.

"Severus, you really must sleep. You will need to be in top form when it's time to go in after her. You will do her no good at all if you are in as bad shape as she is."

Severus merely glared at Albus' portrait and then continued to stare into the fire.

He worked with Harry for a while; deliberately looking at the thought patterns of the Dark Lord to see what progress had been made. He was pleasantly surprised to find the boy had seemed to manipulate the Dark Lord's thoughts with an astonishing amount of subtlety. However, he actually had been a bit too timid—again surprising considering the source—out of fear of doing too much or doing the wrong thing.

They worked together for nearly an hour, until Severus' head ached from the effort and there was simply no more they could do. Now they simply had to wait.

Eventually Remus and Harry left him alone to his misery, each with reassurances they would tell the others if they learned anything new. Harry was going to try and get some sleep while Voldemort seemed uninterested in Rowena. They were all thankful it was Saturday so that such luxuries as an afternoon kip were possible.

Severus was not certain if he fell asleep in his chair, or had just become so lost in his dark ruminations as to lose track of time. He regained full awareness as the overwhelming sensation of Rowena all but exploded in his chest.

Her 'end' of the severed Bond had healed.

Now it was not just one-way, but two and he allowed his own emotion to embrace hers. Love. Relief she was alive. Longing. His sending was flavored with anger at what she had done. Her sending was flavored with fear and pain which she tried unsuccessfully to hide from his perceptivity. It only lasted a moment, before the connection was gone, either due to her unconsciousness or conscious effort to seal.

He all but jumped from his chair with restless energy—what was occurring that her end of the Bond healed just now? Harry barged into the room, unannounced, Albus regarding him apologetically from the portrait.

"He said it was an emergency and, in light of the circumstance I did not think a delay would be helpful," he said by way of explanation. Severus waved the door shut again but otherwise ignored him.

"Potter, what is happening?" he asked harshly. The boy was pale and shaken.

"They're… playing," Harry said, collapsing into a chair using the euphemism Voldemort used when he had given up trying to 'break' someone and turned them over to 'play' with his Death Eaters. "Lucius—he hit her on the head, knocked her out. That might have been a good thing…"

No doubt she was in the same position he had been in a week ago—strung up to the ceiling by his wrists while the minions struck at him with whips and staves and knives, as though he had been some sort of horrible parody of a piñata.

He had never been so anxious and eager to answer the summons as when the Dark Mark finally burned on his arm.

"Potter, tell Pomfrey to be ready to go to Grimmauld Place—but have her wait here in the private room just in case. I'll send one of my elves ahead to alert Remus and have him get his father there. Albus, you will want to inform Minerva. I still have my Portkey which arrives here. If the Dark Lord is not intending to release her, I will try and send her back with that."

Joseph popped in at that moment, to indicate he heard and understood what was expected of him, and out again in an instant. Dumbledore vanished from his portrait and Harry raced up the corridor, still barely keeping ahead of Severus urgent, sweeping strides.

It was well Garvey was a trollop. She seemed to always be gone on the weekend, so they didn't need to waste precious time in attempting to be secretive.