Chapter 30

"I believe you wanted to find me today, Severus," Lucious said from behind a vicious smile once he stopped the curse. "I thought I would be kind enough to save you the effort. Excellent work Alexander, our Master will surely reward you." Snape stood up from where he had fallen a moment before, and was immediately knocked back down by the man that had been the captain of his boat for almost a year. He had had no idea that Alexander was a deatheater, but he suspected it was intended to be that way. That explained why his last captain disappeared without a word; he was probably dead. When Alexander answered his ad with impeccable credentials and references from some of England's more powerful muggle families, Severus had thought it to be a stroke of luck. "Apparently not," he thought sourly to himself.

"We're going to make this very simple," Malfoy told them, "Severus, if you move, William will put a bullet in her head; violently messy, but necessary under the circumstances. And Andraste, if you move, suffice to say that Avada Kadavra will work just fine on him. Am I making myself clear? Good," he continued without waiting for a response. "Then let us go downstairs and have a chat, shall we?" Rough hands yanked Severus to his feet and pushed him towards the staircase that Lucious was already on.

Remus and the students stood in the small confines of the engine room that Hermione's portkey had taken them to. As soon as they arrived, Lupin had signaled for them to be quiet. "We're not alone," he mouthed silently. The three strained their ears, trying desperately to hear what Remus could hear perfectly. The voice that they were listening to was, no doubt, that of Lucious Malfoy; and if he was there, chances were that he wasn't alone.

"You can only imagine," they heard him say, "the dark lord's surprise when Alexander told him that you recently had Mr. Potter here as your guest." The look of question in Lupin's eyes was enough to encourage Harry to signal that Alexander was the boats captain. Remus nodded to him in understanding, and refocused on the conversation that was going on. "And my surprise that you would be so stupid as to think yourself capable of coming after me. Really, Severus, surely you must know when you're outmatched."

"Not hard when it's twenty to two, is it Malfoy?" they heard Andraste shoot out at him, followed immediately by a loud gasp of pain. They were all thinking the same thing. "Twenty to two... that was a lot of deatheaters..."Hermione pulled out the vial that Andraste had given her and signaled for the others to do the same. When they had, she raised hers as if she was giving a toast, and drank it down.

"That is quite enough, Andraste," Malfoy suggested, his voice almost pleasant.

"You know, you'd be okay if you weren't such a prick," Andi responded, laughing at her own joke. This time they heard him whisper 'Crucio," and there was a loud thud that could have only been caused by Professor Snape falling to the ground.

"Look what you did, Andi. You made me have to hurt him." Malfoy sounded more like he was consoling a crying infant than torturing another human being. "As I was saying. What exactly did you plan on doing with me, Severus? Just out of curiosity."

"Kill you with my bare hands," he answered. Judging from the tone of his voice the others were sure he was in pain, and lots of it.

"How positively crude."

Immediately they heard a loud crash. "Leave her alone, coward," Severus said coolly.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. This is simply too much fun." There was another loud crash, and a simultaneous grunt from Severus.

"We have to do something!" Hermione insisted in an almost imperceptible whisper. Without warning she pointed her wand straight at Harry and whispered again. "Expilarimus." The light from her wand hit him, but had no effect whatsoever. "Good, the potions working," she said, ignoring the dirty look that Harry was giving her. "But I don't think Professor Snape has taken his, so we have to be careful." Lupin raised his finger to silence her again so he could focus on what was going on in the room above them.

"If you both are quite done, I would like to continue. Severus, the dark lord has chosen to let you decide who lives, and who doesn't," Lucious said in an exaggeratedly villainous tone. "If you bring Potter, Andraste will live. If you don't, she dies. You, of course, are a traitor. You will die no matter what."

"Can I make a suggestion?" Andraste asked in an oddly cheerful tone. Either Malfoy nodded to her, or she didn't wait for an answer; because they heard her continue without hearing a response from him. "How about if you kill yourself now, and save us the trouble? And then you could go to Hell... I hear it's nice and warm this time of year."

"Not likely, but I'm sure Alexander would be delighted to teach you some manners." They could only assume what was going on, because Severus shouted for them to leave her alone, followed by a scream of 'get off of me' in Andraste's voice. There was a short series of crashes, and a door slamming. There was a few minutes filled with nothing but the sound small crashes, sick broken laughter, and Lucious taunting Severus. Twice the students had made moves towards the door, and both times Remus had stopped them; quieting their objections and stilling them with a single motion. Eventually they heard a door open, and everything was silent for a moment before Andraste spoke.

"For future reference, if your darling leader has forgotten to mention it to any of you as well, cursing me is a waste of your time...and possibly your life," she added with an unpleasant laugh.

"Come sit with me Andraste," Lucious said, "or he dies now."

"I'm fine standing, but I do want a drink. Would you like one? You can watch me pour it," she offered. Only Lupin could hear the sounds of her crossing the room and opening a bottle of wine. "May I give one to Severus?"

"If you'll sit with me."

"Very well." Remus couldn't help but laugh about the way Andraste was handling herself. She was being held by 20...no, 19 deatheaters, and was having a glass of wine with their leader. He wondered if Lucious even realized how much control of the situation Andraste was taking. Much to his own surprise, he heard Andraste's voice clearly in his head, laying out what she wanted him to do. Judging by the way she was talking, he wasn't the only one that could hear her. "If Severus will hurry up and finish the wine that I so kindly spiked, I'm gonna see how many of this guy's buttons I can push. Be ready to act. Ron, Harry, and Hermione: I want the three of you to stay in the cloak as long as possible. Remus, you come out ahead of them. We have grounds now to send them to Azkaban, so let's keep the death to a minimum, Okay?" The voice in their heads went silent again, and they heard her speak.

"So tell me, Lucious," she purred as much as she said, "how do you think Snakeboy is gonna feel about so many of his deatheaters being more loyal to you then to him?" Another loud crash. "Now really," Andraste said, her words almost shaking through her laughter, "you spilled my wine. Was that necessary?"

"I've heard enough out of you. One more word and he dies."

"Which word would that be, Lucious?"

"I'm warning you!" The tone of Malfoy's voice clearly showed that he was getting angry and tense, that he was starting to lose his cool composure.

"Do you know what 'bite me' means?" Andi asked sweetly, but it was enough to cause a small laugh from Severus. All at once, pandemonium erupted. There was yet another crash and a furious Lucious yelled 'Avada Kadavra' at Severus. Remus, who was running through the door into the room yelling curses, saw Severus stand up just as a deatheater turned a large handgun on him. One of the kids pegged the cloaked man with a confusion bomb just as he was firing, causing him to swing around towards Andi, who was attempting to reach for the gun. She was spun around by the force of a bullet ripping all of the way through her body and into the chest of the man behind her. As if in a violent ballet, she and Lucious both fell to the ground, inches from the other. Severus, without a wand and still weakened from the pain that was surging through his body, attempted to move towards her and was knocked unconscious by an unidentified person crashing something over his head. The other four, who had managed to stun most of the deatheaters that were trying desperately to speak a proper spell, stopped the rest with the most painful curses they were legally allowed to use; and then rushed to the sides of Severus and Andraste.

Remus immediately took charge and began issuing orders before the students had the opportunity to become upset. "Hermione, there's a fireplace in his bedroom. Go to St. Mungo's; ask for Dr. Williams, he's a friend of Professor Snape's. Tell him that Severus and Andraste have been hurt, and that he needs to come quickly. Ron, take the portkey and go get Dumbledore, as soon as he notifies the Ministry bring him back. Harry will stay here with me." Ron and Hermione rushed to do what he had said, and Harry watched as Remus checked for pulses on the others. Severus' was strong, but he was showing no signs of waking soon; Andraste's, however, was weak and erratic. "Almost seems to be par for her," Remus thought unhappily. Reluctantly, he made himself give Lucious the same courtesy, quietly pleased to discover that the man was no longer breathing, and there was no pulse to be found. "He's dead," Lupin told Harry, dropping Malfoy's hand unceremoniously.

"Good," Harry replied, showing the hardness his life had given him clearly in his eyes. "Wait!" he said, irritated at himself that he hadn't thought of it quicker as he took off his necklace. "I can heal them with this." He went over to Andraste, and laid the necklace where it seemed most of the blood was coming from. Much to Harry's shock, nothing happened. "I don't understand, it's supposed to glow orange. We've done it twice before, it always works."

"There had to have been something else in the bullets," Hermione said from behind them. "It only works on wound injuries, so if there's something in her blood..."

"Take care of Professor Snape with it," interrupted a man that Harry had never met before, but assumed was Dr. Williams. The man moved to tend to Andraste as Harry backed off and laid the necklace across Severus. This time the necklace glowed as he had expected it to with Andraste. The steady orange shine lasted for less than a minute before it faded and Severus opened his eyes.

"Andraste," he said immediately, half as a question, half as a statement. He sat up and looked around, seeing his old friend leaning over her body. "How is she, Bill?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure yet," the doctor replied. "I need to get her to the hospital."

"I'm coming with you," Severus said, crawling the few feet to Andraste.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible yet," Dumbledore broke in. The Headmaster had just arrived with Ron, and was walking towards them. "Investigators from the Ministry are on their way. You're going to be needed here."

"I don't care about the bloody Ministry, Albus. I'm going with Andraste."

"He's right," Bill insisted. "I have to get her into surgery anyway, and you'd just be stuck pacing the waiting room again. Take care of things here, and then come."

"We'll go with her," Hermione offered.

"I'm sorry, but they'll want to question you as well," Dumbledore told her. "Professor McGonagall will meet Dr. Williams there, and she'll keep us updated."

"We really need to go," Bill said, the concern in his voice adding to Professor Snape's panic. "Are there apparition wards here?" Severus walked over to the deatheater that had taken his wand, and retrieved it from the inside pocket of the still man's cloak. He waved it a bit, muttering words that no one else could hear, and then turned back to the others.

"I've removed them. Please alert me as soon as you know something." The doctor gave him a brief nod and then disappeared with Andraste. Severus stared blankly at the place where they had been for quite a while, making no movements to suggest that he was aware that several people were filing in from the bedroom. Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, was among them, and headed straight to Dumbledore. Two people began to search deatheaters and reinforce the stunning spells on them as the others stood behind the Minister, awaiting orders.

"What's happened here?" Cornelius asked, nervously eyeing the body of Lucious Malfoy.

"Two of my professors were attacked as soon as they arrived on the boat. I've been told that the captain, the man in the bedroom there, was responsible for bringing them onboard. Luckily, neither Lupin nor the children arrived on to the deck, so their presence went unknown for quite a while." The minister turned back to the investigators he had brought, telling each of them to take one of the witnesses and question them. Once they moved to do that, he turned back to Albus.

"It's just procedure," he started, explaining his actions to the more powerful wizard. "Most of these people are known to be deatheaters, and are wanted for escaping Azkaban." He glanced down again at the body at his feet. "Who killed Malfoy?"

"I was not here, but I would suspect it was the one with the gun," Dumbledore replied, pointing out to Cornelius that the man laying on the ground to his left still had a gun in his hand. "My understanding is that he fired at Professor Andraste, and the bullet hit Lucious after it went through her."

"Where is she?"

"She's been taken to St. Mungo's."

"We'll need to question her."

"First, Cornelius, she will need to live." Minister Fudge nodded at Albus. After last year's events, and the return of Lord Voldemort, he knew better than to push the Hogwarts Headmaster. Having Dumbledore on his side was important to keeping the public's already wavering trust. They fell quiet as they watched Ministry officials start to slowly identify deatheaters and prepare to take them to Azkaban. After nearly 45 minutes had passed, investigators began to return one by one with the people they were questioning. Finally, after an hour, everyone had come back except for Severus and the man interviewing him. Dumbledore was about to go see what was keeping them when he heard McGonagall's voice calling for him from the fireplace in the bedroom. Lupin and the students eagerly followed him in, wanting any word of Andraste's condition.

"It is good news, I hope," Albus said to the head floating in the fire.

"I'm afraid not, Albus," she said, the normally stern woman looking as though she was on the edge of tears. "The bullet itself only caused minimal damage, and they've been able to fix it; but it was tainted with something that they're having trouble identifying. She's vomiting blood, convulsing, and her blood pressure is dangerously low. To make matters worse they've had to put her on a muggle respirator because she's stopped breathing twice. They're sending a poison specialist to get the bullet from Malfoy's body. They're hoping that it'll be easier to identify that way."

"I have a better idea," Severus said from behind them. Albus was the only one that didn't look up in surprise. He had seen Snape come in just a moment before, and knew full well that if there was a way to save Andi, Severus would find it.

"Thank you Professor McGonagall. I'm going to let the students come through now, Severus and I will be along as soon as possible." Minerva nodded at him, and her head disappeared. One by one the others followed her image back to St. Mungo's, until Remus, the last one through, was gone. "What are you planning, Severus?" Albus asked after shutting the door and whispering a silencing spell to assure privacy.

"I need to have a talk with the one that shot her, Lucious called him William. I'm sure he'll know what was on the bullets – it was his gun."

"Very well, but please remember that we are surrounded by Ministry officials." Dumbledore opened the door and signaled to Minister Fudge. "We would like to speak with William; he's the one that had the gun." Cornelius acted as though he was going to object for a moment, but thought better of it when he saw the look in Dumbledore's eyes. He motioned for two of his people to bring in the unconscious man. They did as he said, and then left quickly as Severus coldly suggested they do. Severus studied the aging blonde man for a moment, woke him up in a full body bind, and then made a display of putting more silencing charms on the room.

"How do you feel about being tortured, William?" Severus asked the man as he leaned in, inches from his face.

"Not very good, mate," the man responded in a weak Australian accent. Severus looked closer at him, staring at his eyes, and then grabbed his arm and lifted his sleeve. As Severus had suspected, there was no dark mark. This was someone that had no idea what he had gotten himself into.

"He's a muggle," Severus said to Albus before turning back to the man. "What are you doing here?"

"Just workin'. Some bloke hired me to do a job."

"What was in the bullet?"

"If I tell you, will you let me go?"

"No," Severus replied curtly, "but I'll do my best to not torture you to death."

"Good enough for me, mate," the man replied with an eagerness that made Severus sick to his stomach. "Venom from Susie. She's my pet snake."

"And what kind of snake is she?" Severus demanded.

"Inland Taipan, of course." With that, Severus jumped up, grabbed the man by his collar, and threw him out the door, back into the arms of the waiting Ministry investigator. He walked to the fireplace and immediately floo'd to St. Mungo's; leaving Dumbledore to decide what to do about the muggle mercenary. Severus walked out of the fireplace at the hospital and walked straight past the others, barely sparing them a glance. He completely ignored the objections of the security wizard on duty, and walked through the double doors that led to where they most likely had Andraste. For once luck was on his side, and Bill was standing at a desk only a few meters ahead of him, pouring over a chart.

"The bullet had Inland Taipan venom on it, it's an Australian snake." he said to the doctor immediately, skipping any sort of greeting. The man looked up at him for a moment, his eyes thoughtful, and then nodded.

"I guess that would make sense." He snapped for one of the nurses to contact the St. Mungo's branch in Brisbane and get anti-venom. The young woman jumped to do as she was ordered, and came back less than ten minutes later carrying a small box containing 15 small vials, and a second box containing several bags marked Lactated Ringers Solution.

"They said to use a 1:10 ratio at 400 units per/minute, Dr. Williams." Severus followed as his friend grabbed the boxes from the nurse and headed into the room where Andraste was laying. She was worse than he had seen her yet. She was hooked up to a machine that was breathing for her, and had wires and tubes coming off of various parts of her body. Her skin, instead of the pale that he had expected, had a odd yellow tinge to it. He watched in silence as a man that he had known for ten years set to work changing the IV solution on a woman he had known less than two weeks. They knew what was wrong now, and how to fix it. The question was, were they too late?

Severus sat, deathly still, in the chair beside her bed. His only response to Bill's suggestions that he go back to the waiting room and stay with the others, was shifting his blank stare momentarily to his friends face. Bill said that he would update those that were waiting – where they were supposed to be waiting, he added – and would be back to check on Andraste shortly. The next hours passed in a daze for Severus. Bill came in several times to change out the liquid in Andraste's IV. Her condition hadn't started to improve, but it had stopped getting worse, and that was enough to give Severus hope. He wasn't sure why the doctor or Dumbledore had allowed it, but eventually Harry walked in and took the seat next to his. He handed Professor Snape one of the cups of tea he had brought in, and then sat there beside him, not uttering a word. Over an hour went by, Snape assumed, by the fact that Bill had been in twice, and it seemed he was coming in every thirty minutes. Harry left once, only to return quickly with two fresh cups of tea and then sit down as silently as he had before. His presence, which Severus thought he should have found annoying, had a strange sort of comfort in it. After they sat together quietly for another half hour, Severus finally spoke. "Thank you for being there today. We would probably be dead if you hadn't insisted." Harry looked up at him with a slight smile and nodded. More time passed before any one spoke and this time it was Harry.

"I respect you. I always have." Severus opened his mouth to reply, but Harry held up a hand, telling him to wait, that he wasn't finished. "I may not have always liked you, there have been a lot of times that you've been incredibly unfair, but that didn't change that I respected you. Regardless of tactics, you've always tried to push us to be our best, but more than that, you push yourself too, it's obvious in everything you do. You stand for something, and you don't back down from it. That's something that I strive for. I want people to think of me the way I think of you..." he paused for a moment, contemplating that thought, "...only nicer." Severus smiled in spite of himself at that, thinking what an incredible complement it really was.

"I didn't like you and I didn't respect you. I looked at you and I saw your father. I saw a boy that shouldn't have interfered when I should have died. But I do like you now, and I do respect you; as my student..." he took a deep breath, forcing the truth to come, "and as my equal." Harry gave Severus a very sincere smile just as the door opened and Dr. Williams walked in. Bill walked over to Andraste's bedside, yet another full bag of IV liquid in his hand. He changed the near empty one that was there, and then examined Andraste.

"Her blood pressure is normal, and she hasn't had anymore seizures for several hours, so I'm taking her off the respirator," he explained as he removed the tubes that were covering her mouth. When the machine was gone, Severus breathed a sigh of relief to see that Andraste's breathing remained steady and normal. "She's out of danger, now we just have to wait for her to wake up," Bill said with a smile. "How exactly does she manage to get herself into these things?" Severus just shrugged his shoulders at the question, not really feeling like conversing on how injury prone Andraste was. "She should probably wake up soon; send for me when she does." Severus nodded and his friend headed to the door, only to stop just before leaving and turn around with a very genuine smile. "By the way, Congratulations, Severus; it's nice to see you're finally settling down." Severus nodded at him again, wondering to himself about who had felt the need to announce his engagement.

"You know, this is getting old," a weak voice said from the bed, interrupting the thoughts he had lost himself in. Severus jumped up and quickly crossed the few steps to her bedside.

"How are you?"

"Better than one would think," she said with a half-smile. "Was that Harry?" Severus' attention had been so focused on Andi that he hadn't even noticed that Harry had quietly gotten up and left the room.

"Yes, it was," he told her just as Dr. Williams walked in.

"I see my favorite patient is awake. But you know, you really don't have to keep getting yourself hurt to see me, we could just have dinner," Bill said with a bright smile, causing Andraste to laugh and Severus to scowl. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he did a brief examination of her.

"Tired, but otherwise fine."

"So," Bill said, laughing lightly, "you've been stabbed, shot, beaten up, and poisoned. What's next?"

"A vacation," Andraste responded without missing a beat. Andraste and Bill shared another laugh, but Severus struggled to find anything funny about the situation. She came to Hogwarts expecting to die, and this was the fourth time just that had almost happened. He asked her to marry him so soon to assure she wouldn't leave when this was over, but he had no idea how to assure that she'd live through it. "I believe," Andraste said, sitting up and pulling the IV out of her arm, "that I am ready to leave." The smile on Bill's face disappeared as he looked thoughtfully at her.

"I don't think that's a good idea yet, Andraste. You've been through a lot, I'd like to keep you overnight for observation."

"He's right, Andi," Severus agreed, "you should stay." Andraste looked blankly at Severus for a moment; thinking that for someone that hated doctors, he was being rather hypocritical.

"Not gonna happen. I feel fine. I want some dinner and I want to sleep in my own bed."

"You are just as stubborn as Severus is," Dr. Williams said. "Promise me you'll come back if there's any changes... If you start feeling different at all." Andraste gave him the promise he wanted and stood up, removing the rest of the wires and changing her clothes with a wave. She held her hand out to Severus, who was still looking irritated that she wasn't staying but took it anyway and led her out to the waiting room. Immediately she was showered with questions from the people that had been waiting for her recovery; but, as if he was reading her mind, Dumbledore raised his hand to silence them.

"Let us discuss this over dinner." One by one they quickly disappeared through the fireplace and reappeared in Dumbledore's office. They headed down to the Great Hall and all took seats at the Head Table. As if controlled by the Headmaster's whim, a large selection of food appeared before them. They ate as Andraste assured each one of them at least three separate times that she did indeed feel fine.

"Well," she said towards the end of the meal, "Lucious is out of the picture, and that was the point of the day."

"It is a shame I didn't get to kill him myself," Snape attempted to say under his breath, but everyone heard.

"At least we do not have to contend with our Potions Master going to Azkaban, Severus," Dumbledore reminded gently before focusing on Andi. "When do you intend to start Harry's training?" All eyes watched her as she thought for a moment.

"We need to make the potions, which should take about 26 hours. I was thinking, however, that Severus and I should try them out first. I want Harry to know exactly what to expect." There were nods of agreement from all of the adults, so she continued. "We'll start tonight, so it should..."

"You've already lost too much blood," Severus interrupted. "We're not taking anymore."

"Could you let me finish before you jump to conclusions, please? I think that it'd be best for the potion if we fast for 24 hours first, so our blood will be at its purest. Right now only God knows what mine has in it."

"A very wise decision," Dumbledore agreed. "So you should be ready to test by Wednesday?"

"Yes," she said, noticing the odd look on Harry's face. "Are you alright, Harry?"

"Um...yeah...I...uh...blood?" Andraste did her best to resist giggling at his nervousness and reply with a straight face.

"Yes, Harry. The potion calls for blood, mine and yours. But don't worry; I'll try to leave you a little."

"Thanks," he said with a forced smile. Andi had every intention of letting Harry think on that for a while, but Severus was still sulking quite a bit and apparently not in the mood for jokes.

"Oh, stop it, Potter," he said, his voice reverting back to the tone he had so often used in the past. "We're not taking that much." The tension visibly left Harry's body and he slumped back into his seat with a sigh. "If you are quite ready, Andraste, I think it is time that we retire." Andi gave the others a nervous smile as she stood and followed Severus out of the room. He stalked towards the dungeons one step ahead of her, which she was more than happy to allow. Whatever was going on in his head she had no doubt she would hear about soon enough, and that it probably wasn't going to be pleasant. When he got to the doorway he stood to the side and held out his arm for her to enter first in what would have been a chivalrous gesture if it wasn't for the look on his face.

"Might as well get this over with," she thought to herself once he had closed the door and taken a seat on the couch. "What's on your mind, honey?" she asked him in the sweetest voice she could force, praying to diffuse the temperament he was obviously brewing. He stared into her eyes for a minute, the look on his face more challenge than romance. It looked as though he was preparing himself for a fight, and she met his glare with equal determination. "If he thinks that I'm going to back down before I even knew why he's mad, he doesn't know me very well," she thought to herself. In the interest of not spending the night having a staring contest, she asked him again, her voice not as soft this time. "Why don't you just tell me what's wrong or get over it?"

Much to her surprise, his look softened considerably. "I don't mean to seem angry, Andi, I'm concerned; I almost lost you again today." She was too shocked by his backing down to reply, so he finally continued. "I am apparently incapable of protecting you, and that bothers me." Andraste did the only thing that she knew to do; she went over and hugged him. They sat there in each others arms for quite a while without a word passing between them. "I don't want to lose you, Andi."

"You won't," she replied, thinking with a pang of regret that it was selfish to pretend that she thought she would survive this...if only her instincts could be wrong for once...