Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story. Except a few things which you don't recognize from original series or anywhere else.
Author: zimagesto
Title: Harry Potter and the Legacy of Slytherin
Summary: Seventh year at Hogwarts. Contains: the Lord of Darkness, the Dark Lord, a bunch of elves, a lost kingdom and a lot of interesting stuff. Twisted story with a twisted end. Not conventional. Worth reading. R&R
Author's Note: I've got myself a livejournal! Hip, hip hurrah! And I promise to keep it updated and tell you about the work I get on my stories! huge
Chapter 4: The Ministry and the Birds
"I stand before you
And ask for your mercy
But in the name of your goodness,
In the name of your fairness,
You take away
All that is Beautiful"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Breakfast at Snape Manor was a pleasant affair. Snape himself was much less pissed during eating said meal, especially since Amala was next to him. His trademark comments were, if not less numerous, at least less intimidating.
"Longbottom, watch out, with your talents for Potions, you may blow up your tea" he said, raising an eyebrow at the boy who sat on his right, carefully adding some sugar to his drink.
"Right, sir" Neville said, gulping to himself. Of course he would end up next to the Potions Master all the times, wouldn't he?
Amala just smirked to herself while sipping her own tea.
"Mrs. Wright, I assure you, there is no reason for laughing, if he were to challenge you now in a duel, you would probably kill yourself with a mixed up hex"
Amala shook her head slowly, wishing she could reply to his insult. But of course, she couldn't find anything in time. Darn.
All in all, breakfast was alright. Amala started singing 'Material Girl' by Madonna to piss the Potion Master off and she put extra heart in "Boys may come and boys may go, and that's alright with me/ Experience has made me rich and now they're after me", but he was definitely not impressed. Ah, well, it had been worth a try...
At one point, somebody stepped –or rather, fell through- the fireplace. The people in the room stared at him as he got up. He was a rather solid man with graying hair and small, piggish eyes. Actually, he looked a lot like a wild pig, which did not mean well.
"Severus Snape?" he barked.
"Why, yes..." Snape answered in a cold, deadly voice that did not sound at all like the snappy, but not evil, comments that he had said all through breakfast. "Any reason for... dropping into my dining room unannounced?"
"Indeed there is, Snape" the man replied. "You have been warned of breaking the law and the Ministry..."
"And therefore I do not even get to know your name or your purpose. How... civilized" he said, his eyes dark and cold.
"Mortimer Bulla" he said with spite. "From the Magical Law Enforcement Squad"
"What a pleasure" the Potion Master said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, but Bulla decided not to comment that.
"You have been warned this summer of continuing relationship with one Amala Wright. We see that it has been in vain and therefore we will..."
"What exactly was the problem of said relationship?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow. "Please, do remind me"
Bulla rolled his eyes and said in a pissed fashion:
"One: Amala Wright is underage and sexual relationships with an underage person are forbidden by law. Two: You have taken advantage of your professorship, as she is your student. Three: You have corrupted a minor. Isn't. that. enough?"
Snape rolled eyes and looked at Bulla with a disrespectful gaze.
"Well, then... One: she is not underage anymore and before. And, as you can see in her testimony under Veritaserum, we have not done anything that would be considered of 'sexual nature'. I do believe the exact quote would be "kisses and light touches, as well as the occasional hug or lie down, only kisses being more than what two good friends would do". Am I right?"
"Yes" Amala said, blushing hard.
"As for the second accusation, I am sure that you will find that I did not take advantage of my professorship, as can be deduced from her testimony. I cannot recall the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of her coming to me first and me not wanting too much to do with her" he said and snuck a look towards those at the table. They were watching everything interestedly and Draco had a very respectful look on his face, seeing his Professor's coolness given the situation. Amala lowered her head and muttered "that last one's an understatement".
"And anyway" he continued "there are no school rules against teacher/student relationships. Third, corrupting her to what, exactly? I frankly do not recall ever telling her to sleep with me or anything of the sort."
Bulla just stared at Snape with spite in his eyes.
"Quite finished, I hope?" he said with an ugly look on his face.
"Yes" the Potion Master said coldly.
"Well, she is underage" the pig-man said.
"Am not, not by the rules of Great Britain" she said. "I was born seventeen years ago on the 19th of June"
"But you are underage by the Romanian rules" Bulla said with a grin that looked really, really nasty.
"Lucky that I'm in Great Britain then, no?" she replied with a small victorious smile.
"But you are still a Romanian citizen" Bulla said with a voice of doom that made them all feel something bad would happen soon. "Therefore, you are judged by Romanian laws"
Amala remained a bit open-mouthed but Snape said quickly:
"Then she should be judged by a Romanian court, shouldn't she?" he asked with a smirk.
"But since I'm not accused, but you are, Severus" Amala said slowly, "you should be judged by the laws of Great Britain"
"Which have nothing against what is going on" he concluded with a smirk towards Bulla. "Therefore, your whole theory falls"
"But the hurt one in this case is Wright!" Bulla said, his small eyes full of hatred.
"I'm not hurt" she said with a shrug. "And I've got no intentions of pressing charges against anyone in the near future. And as for the Romanian embassy, they showed no interest whatsoever in this problem. So, there's no problem"
Bulla was staring at her. Apparently, so much thinking had made him lose track of everything.
"There is a problem" he said and growled in what everybody supposed that he thought was a menacing growl, but which sounded like a dying pig.
"The problem is?" Snape asked in his cold, silk voice.
"I will tell you" he said and turned back towards the fireplace, lit it, threw some flew powder inside and said "the Ministry!" in a booming voice.
The ones left behind stared after him and Draco started laughing.
"What an idiot!" he said. "Well, I'm sorry for you Professor, Amala, it seems like everything started yet again"
"We'll cope" she said with a warm smile. "I just wonder how long it'll be until my parents find out, I haven't told them a thing. Apparition is a wonderful thing, saved me the trouble of telling my parents that I had to go to a courtroom in England."
"You haven't told them?" Snape asked, surprised.
"Well, I liked the place my head is, Severus, I wouldn't want it to be at my legs' level, you know" she said with a small smirk. "So no, they've got no clue. I just thought I wait 'til I'm 18 to tell them, just in case they jump on my head and tell me I'm underage and should listen to them and dump you since you're a Death Eater and quit Hogwarts so you wouldn't kill me seeking for revenge"
They all looked at her as if she'd grown another head.
"But everybody knows Snape is a spy!" Ron nearly cried out.
"Tell that to my parents" she said with a week smile. "They found out he was at Hogwarts in spring, asked me if he'd killed or hurt anybody. I sad no, Umbridge already took care of that, as I could see"
They chuckled at that.
"So, they wouldn't take it easily" Snape commented.
"No, I have more chances in teaching the Whopping Willow how to drink tea politely than getting out of this without the tell-off of my life" she replied. "And then I'd probably have more problems than I could ever carry... And you'd have to conjure your food and drink, God knows where they'd put the poison"
Severus snorted.
"I have some antidotes, thank you" he said.
"So, I really, really hope that news doesn't reach them. But I don't think it will" she said slowly. "They're really away from the world... And if they happen to find out, you're a powerful enough wizard to save yourself and maybe even get me out of the underground prison they may throw me in"
"Aren't we a bit fatalistic?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You haven't seen my mum's temper" she whispered. "She's really, really frightening when she goes off. And my dad's not very behind either"
"Ow" Snape winced sympathetically. "How do you manage?"
"My aunt, Mona, she's great" the girl replied. "I love her. She's wonderful, understanding, very mature and indeed someone I can talk to. She's my godmother, also"
Snape smiled warmly at her, but remembering where he was, he turned towards Ron.
"Weasley, you don't want your wand broken again, would you? No? Then stop eating with your mouth open or I'll give it to you to chew it!"
/-/-/-/-/-/-
Molly Weasley was most surprised when, while getting some things from her house, a man entered the kitchen. In her fright, she nearly Apparated away before she recognized him to be one of her husband's work colleagues.
"Bulla. How nice to see you" she said slowly, measuring her every word. Actually, she was not happy to see him. She was most displeased, in fact. She hated him.
"I have been informed that Mrs. Wright lives here" he said full of hatred.
"Oh, she doesn't live here" she replied.
"Then, where does she live?" the man asked with a grimace.
"She stays now at Snape Manor" she replied slowly. "Why, may I ask?"
"What?! Snape Manor?!" the man bellowed. "Snape has been warned! He will spend the rest of his days in Azkaban. Why, the nerve, keeping her at his home over the summer, he should..."
"She just went there yesterday at lunch" Molly said with a frown. "Surely it is not a thing to blame to stay at another's house for a few months, is it?"
"Can I use your Floo?" the man asked, without taking any notice in her reply.
"No, but I doubt it matters" she replied as she watched the man pick out a bag of Floo powder, lighting the fireplace and throwing some Powder into it.
"Snape Manor!" he cried and disappeared from view.
"Why, the nerve" she muttered and put some of her own Floo Powder in the fire. "Albus Dumbledore!"
Then, she put her head in the fire and ended up in his office in Hogwarts,
"Albus, Amala and Snape have trouble" she said and the Headmaster, who had been reading a magazine jumped up. "It's the Ministry, they've sent Mortimer Bulla to her, I don't know why, he didn't tell. He's in Snape Manor now"
"Snape Manor?!" Albus said, raising his eyebrow. "But how can he get in there? The place is securely warded against any type of entry!"
"But Amala went there yesterday... Through the Floo, I think" Molly said, her eyes widening. "One of us must go there and check..."
They were both interrupted though, by a voice that came from the wall.
"I daresay, what a nice little chit-chat" Phineas Nigellus said with laughter in his voice from his place in his portrait. "But I hate to be disappointing you both, everything is safe"
"How do you know?" Molly shot. "Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the children might be in a great deal of trouble if nothing is done-and quick!"
Phineas just snorted, looking calmly at the two worried wizards.
"Really now, do you think I would speak just like that? I'm very sure that everything is fine, fine indeed"
"How would you know?" Molly asked again.
"Because a little straw came and told me" the former Headmaster sneered at her. "And we trust straws, don't we?"
"Yes, we do" a red-nosed man sitting on a throne said slowly. "Trust us, Albus, Mrs. Weasley, everything is alright"
Albus regarded the portraits through his half-moon glasses, shook his head and turned to Molly.
"If they say all is fine, then all is fine" he said slowly. "Although I think it would be better if I found out how you know"
"You'll find out when you're a painting" Phineas said and laughed. "Now, calm down. Everything in Snape Manor's defence is alright. However, I cannot say the same about the couple's problems. They might have trouble."
Molly just sighed.
"I hope everything will be alright" she said.
"No promises of that" Phineas said with a nasty smile, earning himself a glare.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Sirius held Iris tightly in his arms. She was one of the greatest women he'd ever met. And he never forgot to mention that to her. Her reward was overwhelming.
But right now, she was asleep in his arms and who was he to wake her up? He smiled and let himself relax even more when somebody opened the door and poked their head through it.
"Sirius? Can I have a word with you?" said the young woman.
"Sure, Tonks" he replied in a whisper and nearly got up from the bed. Then, he changed his mind. "See you outside, ok?"
Tonks nodded slowly and close the door. Sirius smiled to himself, got up and put some clothes on himself. It wouldn't do to walk around through the house wearing only Adam's suit, would it?
He exited his room and ended up face to face with his cousin.
"Listen, Siri" she said. "There's a weird creature in one of the drawers in the attic... Come with me, if it takes me down, you can at least go get some help, what do you say?"
"Well, Remus is the expert at house debugging" he said. "Or rather, at Defence Against the Dark Arts, not that it wouldn't be the same thing"
Tonks laughed.
"Well, come on! Let's get him"
They somehow managed to get Remus out of his bed –while earning a lot of growling from him- and into the attic and soon they were fighting the small but vicious creature off.
"What is it?" Sirius asked after they'd managed to hit it on the head with a levitated book.
"I have no clue" Remus replied. "Let's see what it was 'guarding' at least, shall we?"
The other two nodded and headed towards the drawer. Sirius was the one to finally open it and found that the only thing left there were a few papers and a small painting.
"What papers are those?" Tonks asked curiously.
"Some old bills" Sirius replied. "Huh, wonder where they came from. I never thought that my parents ever paid bills"
Remus however was centered on the painting. It was a Muggle-type painting of Dumbledore's office, although it seemed to have other things in it than the Headmaster kept. The two men and two women in it were standing in front of the desk, one of the men leaning on it.
"By the Gods" Remus said slowly and the other two looked at the painting.
"What is it?" Sirius and Tonks asked.
"It's... I think it's..." Tonks continued.
"The Four Founders" Remus murmured. "I remember seeing once a picture of Gryffindor's great grandson and of Salazar's great granddaughter. Gryffindor's great grandson looked a lot like this guy here, the one that's leaning on the desk. And look, the sword!"
The three just stared.
"Well, then, this is Slytherin" Sirius said slowly. "Look at him, he actually seems normal here."
"This is Ravenclaw, she looks bright" Tonks said with a smile. "And that must be Hufflepuff"
"I've never heard of pictures of them before" Remus muttered. "They're all supposed to be lost, destroyed and so on."
"Ah, well, seems like Siri has one. Family legacy, no?" Tonks smiled.
"Must be" Sirius replied. "But as you can easily see, my family never had any respect for the old."
"Let's take it down, maybe restore it to natural size, this seems to be shrunk" Remus proposed and the other two accepted.
As they went downstairs, they had no clue that in the picture was a fifth person, only eyes visible, right next to the Sorting Hat which then looked new.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"Ok..." Amala said slowly as she regarded the potion with doubt. "Are you sure this will work?"
"No" Severus replied casually. "But I'm sure it's not poisonous."
"Then why don't you try it?" she asked, handing him the vial.
"Because I need to observe what is wrong. And if you get stuck in your animal shape, I can undo you, but the same cannot be said if I get stuck like that."
"Groovy" she said sourly. "Okay, here we go!"
She gulped the vial and handed it to Severus. She was just about to ask why nothing had happened when her body started morphing. Then, in her place, was a beautiful white dove.
"Wow" Severus said appreciatively. "Nice shape"
The dove tried it wings and then gave a little jump. However, it did not manage to fly. With a small hoot of displeasure, it tried again. And again. And again.
"It needs to be learnt, it does not come naturally... Or at least, not that naturally" Severus said and the dove gave him a small look which he could not decipher.
It tried to fly for another four minutes before it turned back into Amala.
"Well, that was fun" she said with a huge grin. "Although it would have been much more fun if I could fly!"
Severus chuckled.
"Me next" he said and took his potion.
"It tastes like shit!" she warned just as he gulped. "Ah, well, too late"
He turned into a beautiful black hawk and shook his head. Then, he looked back at her and stretched its wings.
"It doesn't come that naturally" she reminded him with a smirk. But, apparently, it did to him, she realized as the hawk previously known as her boyfriend flapped its wings a few times before flying low for a few seconds. "That is so not fair" she said with a pout.
When he came back to his normal shape, he started laughing at her pouts.
"We have nice shapes, though" she said with a smile and kissed him. "We should become Aimagi"
"I completely agree" Severus replied. "And we must not register. It will be more Slytherin that way"
She just laughed.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"Dear Mr. Snape,
We have received intelligence that Mrs. Wright is currently residing at your Manor, despite the warnings we have given you. Both she and you will be under constant surveillance by the Ministry and you will have to present yourselves at 10 A.M. on Friday for a questioning.
Yours truly,
Mortimer Bulla"
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"This is not fair, Severus" Amala said as they went down with the elevator towards the level where they had to get to.
"I know" he replied and put a hand around her shoulders, earning himself a few glares from the ones they shared the elevator with. While their problem was not in the papers, it was still quite famous in Hogwarts and through the Ministry. He simply glared in reply.
They stopped and went through the doors, going to the small room where the 'questioning' would be. As Severus opened the door and let her glide through, they could both see the few wizards gathered there. It was a small cozy room with most of the chairs assembled on one side of the room and two chairs right in front of them.
"All for us? How nice" Amala heard Severus mutter and snorted quietly. She didn't dare reply, just in case the other people in the room heard. Which was not exactly the best idea in the world.
"Good day" she said instead, loudly and clearly.
"Good day" Severus said, right behind her.
"Good day indeed" Mortimer Bella snorted from his place. "It's the day you go down, Snape"
"Shush, you" a forbidding looking woman said.
"That's Amelia Susan Bones, great aunt of the Susan Bones at Hogwarts" Severus whispered towards his girlfriend.
"See?!" Bella boomed. "He's already whispering towards her some commands she must follow!"
"Pardon?!" Amala said, looking at him with a confused look on her face.
"See? See how she's faking?!" Bella started saying, but Mrs. Bones stopped him.
"I hardly doubt it" she said, taking a look at the two. "What did he say to you, my girl?"
"Um... That you were Amelia Susan Bones, great aunt of the Susan Bones at Hogwarts" Amala said with a shy smile. One of the men there started laughing but disguised it as a cough.
"Anything funny, Mr. Jordan?" Bella snapped.
"No, no" he said, shaking his head.
"Very well, then" Mrs. Bones said. "You two, sit on those two chairs"
The two nodded and sat down. Was it just them, or were most of them not very interested in what was going on? They seemed quite absentminded.
"So, we will start with asking Mr. Jordan a few questions to check some facts and then we'll see" Mrs. Bones said and frowned. "Mr. Jordan, if you please..."
The young man who had laughed got up and walked right next to Amala.
"Is it true that you have been a student of Hogwarts until one year ago?" Mrs. Bones asked.
"Yes, madam" he replied.
"What House were you in?" Bella asked quickly.
"Gryffindor, sir" he replied.
"What has that got to do with anything, Mr. Bella?" Mrs. Bones asked with a frown.
"Slytherins usually cover up their tracks for each other" the pig-looking man replied.
"It has no importance whatsoever" Mrs. Bones replied with a glare towards the man. "Very well, then. Mr. Jordan, do you recall Mr. Snape ever have an affair with a student?"
"No, I never heard of anything of the sort" he replied.
"About having any type of relationship?" she continued.
"No, never heard of anything of the sort" he repeated.
"Has he ever proposed anything to any student?" she asked in a somewhat more delicate manner.
"No, never" he replied truthfully.
"How do you know that it didn't happen in other classes?" Mrs. Bones asked.
"It would have been all over the school if he'd have done that... Hogwarts is not the place for keeping secrets" he replied.
"Perhaps he had a secret lover you didn't know of" Bella jumped.
"Maybe, but I doubt it" Jordan replied, looking straight at Bella. Severus wondered idly if the boy doubted it because Hogwarts was 'not the place for keeping secrets' or because he was too evil to ever have a lover.
"Mr. Bella, who does the questioning here?" Mrs. Bones asked, clearly having her patience tried. "Shall we proceed? Good. Mr. Jordan, you left right before Mrs. Wright went to Hogwarts. How do you find this relationship?"
"Odd" he replied in a very truthful manner. "I never imagined a student would get close to Professor Snape in their private time even if they had to choose between painful death and asking him for a potion"
Amala let out a snort of laughter and Jordan looked towards the glaring Potion Master and gulped.
"It is a pity I cannot take points from Gryffindor because of you anymore" he said in his deadliest silky voice.
Some of the audience dared chuckle. Apparently they knew Snape.
"Very well, thank you" Mrs. Bones said and Jordan went back to his place. "Now, Mrs. Wright. As we have just heard, Mr. Snape is not one of the most desirable Professors. What made you do what you did?"
"I liked him" she said with a small smile. "And I needed to know if there was any possibility of him liking me back."
Mrs. Bones smiled a little and opened her mouth to start speaking again before Bella shot another one of his questions.
"What exactly did you do to capture his attention?" he asked.
"I got myself a detention with him, madam" she replied.
"How did you do that?" Bella asked and Mrs. Bones glared, ready to kill him.
"At my former school, one of my colleagues blew up her potion by wrongly combining two potion ingredients. I decided to do that and literally blew up my assignment" she replied.
"As I heard, you have pretty high grades in Potions" Mrs. Bones said, looking suspiciously at the girl.
"I always did, it's one of my favorite subjects" she replied with a smile. "And as you can see, I had some of the highest grades at Potions at the beginning of the year... Well, that was before I blew up my potion. Then I got a really bad grade."
"You're insane" Jordan shot from his seat. "Blowing up the classroom..."
"Yeah, that's what everybody said" she replied with a smile. "Well, everybody who I told about my purpose, that is"
"Under Veritaserum, you said that you had some pretty bad times at the beginning" Mrs. Bones said. "Explain"
"Well, he wasn't the nicest person around" she said with a small smile. "It was bad at first. I was walking on eggshells."
"Has he ever hurt you?" Mrs. Bones asked. "Meaning to, I mean?"
Amala lowered her eyes a little.
"Yes" she said and the room tensed instantly. "Once"
"Did he hit you?" Mrs. Bones asked.
"No" she replied, looking back at her. "He never hit me"
"What did he do, then?" Mrs. Bones continued.
"He... made me keep my hand in a jar of pain-inflicting alive creatures" she replied and heard a low murmur. "But it happened at the beginning, it was about something I'd done, or rather, he'd thought I'd done! He never hurt me again and for awhile, he's been really careful and nice and gentle" she said. "He would never hurt me again, now he knows me. He knows who I am!"
"Once he hurt you, he may always do so" Mrs. Bones said with gentleness towards her, though she glared at Severus.
"No, no..." Amala said, shaking her head. "Then, it was a huge confusion, it seemed as if I were, pardon the expression, trying to screw him up, make fun of him"
"Who isn't trying to?" she heard a small mutter. Jordan, no doubt. Severus glared in his direction.
"If he ever has the same feeling again, he might do it again" Mrs. Bones said sternly.
"No" Amala said truthfully. "I mean, I know how he was then towards me, I know how he is now. Then, he was distrustful, disbelieving, cold and he somehow gave me enough credit to give me a shot. And then, when I seemed to be somebody worth of trust, something happened and I seemed against him. Normally, he wasn't pleased, he thought I'd told the whole school about God knows what and wanted to make sure that nobody ever dared do that again and..."
"Amala" Severus said softly. "It was truly a dumb move from my side, don't act as if it were a normal reaction"
"Aha! Aha!" Bella cried. "Did you hear that?! He's advising her to say it was a one time thing, that it wasn't normal! Well, then, it might be!"
"Sit down, Mr. Bella" Mrs. Bones said through clenched teeth. "Mr. Snape, what had happened on that particular occasion?"
"After gaining my trust, I heard her specifically calling me a 'greasy git' in front of students, calling me her greasy git" he said with a sneer. "I mistook the irony in her voice for irony against me. I thought she meant that she had me in a leash"
Amala snorted shortly.
"Yes, well, instead I was joking at his usual nickname with a tad of fondness" she replied. "But it all solved out soon."
"Very well, then" Mrs. Bones said disbelievingly. "Now, you both know that according to the rules of Great Britain, your relationship is, as much as I hate to say it, legally alright"
Amala smiled sadly at that.
"But Mrs. Wright is a Romanian citizen" Mrs. Bones continued. "So, she is underage. And any sexual relationship with Mr. Snape is therefore forbidden by law, if not approved by Mrs. Wright's parents or legal guardian."
"I'm not only a Romanian citizen, though" Amala said with a smile. "I have dual citizenship, both Romanian and British, as do both my parents. Therefore, since I am in Great Britain, I should be judged by British rules"
The room gaped and Severus said with a glare towards her in his seat:
"Now, why didn't you mention that before?!"
"Hey, don't cut my head off yet!" Amala said with a small roll of her eyes. "You'd have had trouble with the laws before, no matter my citizenship. And only now was it even remotely important, don't you think?"
Severus just rolled his eyes. It didn't make any sense to him.
"He's going to kill you" Jordan pointed out to her. She just looked at Severus for a few seconds before turning back to Jordan.
"Nah" she said. "I'll be fine"
"You... are a British citizen?" Mrs. Bones said slowly.
"Yes" she replied with a small smile. "So... Are we alright?"
"There's nothing we can do" the elder woman replied. "Alright then, I guess we are finished"
She got up from the chair and started packing her things.
"Dual citizenship? You couldn't have mentioned it before?" Severus asked his girlfriend.
"I'd forgot" she said sheepishly.
"Forgot?!" he said. "It would have speared us so much trouble..."
"No kidding" she replied. "But I only remembered when they started talking about me being Romanian... It was nagging at the back of my head. My parents told me that the three of us all had dual citizenship a long, long time ago, when I didn't even completely understand what the fuss was all about"
"So, your mother was Romanian and your father British" Severus said with a small sigh. "And you want to rewrite family history, so you find anybody who's from here and want to marry him and gain him dual citizenship and have a girl, get her dual citizenship..."
She didn't verbally reply, but she yanked him playfully on the arm. One of the women in the room watched them with amused eyes while Mrs. Bones and the rest looked rather stern and disbelieving.
Just as the first few left the room, however, Fudge came through the door.
"YOU!" he cried towards Severus. "You have returned to your Lord, haven't you?! And you've dragged her with you, haven't you?"
"I beg your pardon?" the Potion Master said, raising an eyebrow.
"It has come to my attention that Mrs. Wright has been in the Department of Mysteries, this fall!" Fudge said, shaking slightly. "Have you got her to do it, Snape?!"
"What?" he asked, a bit taken aback.
"Has your Lord told you to send her for anything in the Department?!" Fudge asked. "Has he?! Has he?!"
"No" Severus replied in a dangerous growl. "He knows I betrayed him and he is after me"
"I believe no such thing" Fudge replied and motioned to two Aurors who were right behind him: "Get him"
"What?!" Amala cried and watched as Severus was dragged away. "What are you doing?!"
"Taking him away" Fudge snapped. "And now, now you are safe from him, he can't send you after anything for his Master! You're safe"
"But he never sent me in the Department!" she cried.
"You were there this fall, weren't you? How did you get there?"
"I... I..." she stuttered. Apparating was not a good excuse. "By portkey"
"Really? Why?" Fudge sneered.
"Um... Um..." she said, lacking ideas. "Because I..."
"You have no excuse!" Fudge said victoriously. "And even if you did, you are not capable of making your own portkey, are you? Besides, none was activated then! Go back home and be happy to get away from him"
An Auror took her away and showed her off to a fireplace. He gently tossed some Floo Powder in it and before she knew it, Amala was back at the Manor.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"And... and it's all my fault" Amala sobbed on Harry's shoulder.
Everybody who was sheltered at Number 12 and in Snape Manor had gathered there and Dumbledore wasn't missing either.
"How can it be your fault?" Sirius asked slowly.
"If I hadn't... if I hadn't... if we weren't together, they would find no blame" she replied.
"They'd always find blame on Snape" Sirius said, rolling his eyes slightly. "After all, they have what to find"
Amala glared at the Animagus and Remus decided to pop in.
"Sirius is right" he said slowly. "Severus has a rather unpleasant past and they would be able to find something to lock him up in case they want to"
"Yeah" Colt said and nuzzled Amala with his snout. "Now, don't you worry, we'll find a way to get him back soon."
"I don't think so, Fudge is a complete rat!" she snapped.
"I guess he is" Colt said with a small shake of his head. "But we'll find a way to convince him to let Severus go"
"What way?" she asked between sobs. "I can't argue my being there! Saying I rescued Sirius from the Veil sounds like a really big lie and not a good one in fact"
"We'll find a way" Remus soothed her. "We will"
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Voldemort laughed darkly while watching the scenes in his follower's Pensieve.
"Well done, well done, my servant" he said. "And let this teach all what happens to those who betray me! Now, on to my plan... Potter shall fall and he will do so from inside"
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"Child of mine, never fear while I am with you" came a whisper in the darkness and he felt the coldness from the Dementors fade slowly. "I will guard you, I will take you away from here... Be patient. You must be patient. Your love will be patient. Don't fear. I am with you"
Severus fell asleep on the stone floor, the coldness from the Dementors fading.
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AN: Finished another chapter. You know, I'm starting to really like this story ;-) Also, a small reminder: don't forget to review!
Responses to reviews:
Inu-kokoro: I'm glad I had perfect timing with my chapter and ugh... that strep throat test sounds nasty. As for the psychiatrist/psychologist thing... Yep. Corrected it. Thanks! And if you perfect the slippery tongue-twister, send it to me! huge grin
Tsuetsu: Thanks! And every time I read your review, my pervert mind wanders off to dirty things. When will Amala let Snapey in... Interesting mental image. Ok, now I'll pretend I said nothing and that I'm a perfectly normal and even remotely innocent girl here. Well, they have a problem right about now, but... One day... Perhaps in a week... Perhaps sooner... Perhaps in three months... Perhaps he gets killed so never... ;-) You'll just have to wait and see.
Skillz: Thanks! I rather enjoyed writing the last part myself...
Alcapacien: Thanks for your review... And looks around carefully and whispers Don't tell anyone lowers head But Remus/Colt interactions are to come soon.
GamingGuy84: Thanks. Sorry this chapter was all about the relationship –I tried to put more in it, I swear! It just didn't well... fit here. Darn. Oh, well, you'll forgive me, won't ya?- And next chapter we'll, well, we'll find out some very interesting things... ;-)
Marauder#3: I'm quite fond of them, too! Oh, I feel like I could just kill Fudge for what he did to them! blink, blink Wait a second... I'm the one who writes this... wicked grin I can kill him! Mwahahahahahaha evil laughter while walking away, plotting the death of Minister of Magic