"Well did anyone see where he went?" Kingsley Shacklebolt growled, getting irritated.

"No – look – no one else was there. It was just – we think – just those three. Greyback, the Malfoy boy, and Snape. And look, we've only got spotty evidence – some people in the village down the hill…no one is even sure where they really were, Kingsley, they hide themselves well," Arthur Weasley, back in full-swing at the Ministry, managed to gasp out in between Kingsley's tirades.

"Well, Harry was saying it is very important we find him now, and people around here are finally starting to listen to him - "

"Kingsley – I know. Alright, I know. We will find him, I know what Harry said. Moody's on it. With his father in Azkaban it won't be as difficult to get to him now," said Arthur, trying in vain to calm down his irate co-worker.

"What about the other two?"

"Greyback and Snape? Greyback's probably back in the underground. Snape…no one knows."

Kingsley nodded, breathing more slowly at last. "We'll send Lupin back to the wolves. Greyback doesn't suspect him yet."

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The walk, or rather stumble for Snape, to Grimmauld Place was awkward. Lupin kept an extremely strong hold on Snape, still coming down off the effects of the full moon. The air was chilled and a slight wind blew, but the two men managed to keep what little dignity they had, having lost their clothes during last night's activities. Lupin kept Snape firmly in front of him, making sure he only stared impassively at the back of his head. At least they were in a forest most of the time.

"What do you do?"

"What?" Lupin was startled out of his reverie. The wizarding world had seemed to slow down, to take a step back in the past few days, and everything around them appeared to move almost in slow motion. Lupin's thoughts became more sluggish too, lingering in the past and in idle wanderings which were no help at all.

"What do you do? You wake up naked every time? It's undignified. It's unthinkable. But I suppose precious Black was always there to - "

"He didn't do it. I'm usually chained, or drugged. At school – keep you hands behind your back! – at school I kept my clothes in a cellar at the shrieking shack, and if I wasn't there in the morning James or…or Sirius would always bring them," Lupin admitted grudgingly.

There was an eerie silence after that. Lupin was remembering how it felt to be taken care of, to have someone always there to watch out for him. Who would watch out for him now when the werewolves decided he was a traitor and a perfectly good meal? Speaking of traitors, he thought with a grimace, glancing over Snape once. He didn't know what to think of the man. He was a complete mystery, a double-edged sword and Lupin couldn't help but wonder if too much or too little faith had been placed in him.

An alarming thought startled him out of his trance. "What happened to your wand?"

Snape merely answered him with a glare for a moment, before looking away to admit some measure of defeat. "I don't know. I had it there. I don't know. If they find it – be 'they' Death Eaters or the Ministry, we have a much more serious problem."

"They could do a trace."

"Yes."

"And what precisely would they find?"

Snape gave a bit of an ironic smirk. "Histories of spells Lupin, routine ones. Nothing quite so shocking, though I'd say the last one might - "

Lupin cut him off, not wanting to hear about that one. "But you claim to be on our side, do you not? You claim to be good. Why would it be so horrible then if the Ministry found it?"

The glare was back. Snape stopped walking, even though they were nearly at the house, and turned to face Lupin completely, wrenching out of the grip. "I never claimed to be good, you fool. There is a difference between good and right, like I said before. I'm not working for the Ministry. I never have been, and I never will. Those idiots do not deserve cooperation. My orders come from elsewhere."

"And where is that?" Lupin asked, letting the anger and annoyance show through in his voice as they hurriedly stepped into the house through the backdoor, trying their best not to catch the eyes of neighbours.

Snape said nothing for awhile. The man made no sound, Lupin came to notice. He didn't sigh, he didn't clear his throat, he didn't even breathe loudly. There was never any sound from him except for when he spoke, and even then it was sparse and sharp. Snape never wasted words.

Lupin grabbed his wand off a sturdy shelf up high, where it had been placed to be safe from the wolf. Not much else in the house escaped though – it was quite a wreck. He righted a sofa with obvious claw marks down the side and sat Snape down on it roughly, binding him magically with ropes. "Don't I even get clothes? This looks rather odd, Lupin, even for you", Snape grimaced.

"Oh! Right. Err…sorry," Lupin mumbled, wandering why he was apologizingß. He unbound the ropes quickly and conjured Snape a rather plain-looking robe before binding him efficiently again.

"How long do you intend to keep me here? This is wasting valuable time."

"For whose side?"

"For both."

"Then I will ask you again, until you answer. Who are you loyal to?"

Snape maintained eye contact though another strange silence that followed. The man seemed to say more in stillness than he ever did through noise. "Have you ever even heard of a horcrux, Lupin?"

Lupin looked surprised. "Yes, but why - "

"Then I must suggest to you yet again that you do not speak of things you do not know. Suffice it to say, I have been searching for several horcruxes."

This time Lupin looked sickened. "You mean you're making them for yourself?"

Snape did not answer. Instead he said in a dangerous undertone, "I think I may know the location of perhaps the most powerful horcrux in the world. And if you think the Ministry is getting that information out of me, you might as well turn me in now and watch as whatever their pathetic methods of torture are fail. I remind you, I can evade most any potion."

This time the silence came from Lupin.