Severus froze as the hammering on the door became more urgent. He looked at his mother, but she was slumping face first over the back of the couch.
"Mum!" Severus cried, but she looked up at him from her cloud of tousled hair and ordered him to open the door.
"But what if it's the Ministry!" he sputtered.
"Severus!" moaned his mother.
The hammering came again. Severus crept to the door as if it might explode, closed a shaking hand on its handle, unclicked its locks, and pulled it open.
"Headmaster?" he gasped.
Indeed, Dumbledore himself twinkled at Severus momentarily down his croaked nose, but his expression became earnest as Eileen began moaning even louder.
"May I?" he said and when Severus sputtered and stepped back, he rustled into the house.
"Eileen," Severus heard Dumbledore mutter as he drew his wand over his mother's belly. "You are badly injured, fractured ribs . . . We must get you to Madame Pomfrey -- "
Eileen moaned again as Dumbledore hefted her weight against his shoulder.
"Madame Pomfrey?" asked a bewildered Severus.
Dumbledore lifted his eyebrows, "Oh, yes. Natrually." He pushed past Severus toward the door, then turned back, Eileen still moaning against him, and frowned, "Is there, perhaps, a place you might stay? You can't, of course, hide with your mother at Hogwarts as Eileen will need to disappear entirely."
"You're -- " Severus tried to compose himself and his quaking hands relaxed, "You're going to hide my mum at Hogwarts?"
"Oh, yes," Dumbledore said again, twinkling now at Severus. "It's amazing how many witches and Muggle women alike go to jail for murdering abusive husbands in self defense. I've been waiting for this to happen for quite some time."
Severus tried not to show his shock and, more keenly, his gratitude. But Dumbledore seemed to read it anyway, as if he had looked into the boy's heart. He smiled at Severus's unspoken thanks and turned with Eileen on his shoulder into the night.
Severus followed, his mind working furiously. They would have to Side-Along Apparate, he knew. For such a powerful wizard as Dumbledore, Side-Along Apparating with two people should have been quite easy, and it was.
"To Hogwarts first, I think," Dumbledore said cheerfully, stopping in the dark mouth of an alley with Eileen's groaning body against his own. "Grip my arm very tightly, Severus . . ."
Another moment and they were there. Severus, who had never Apparated before, was finding it hard to stay on his feet. Dumbledore paused to peer anxiously into his face, but after a moment's horrid retching, Severus straightened up and assured the older wizard that he was alright. They went to the gates as fastly as they could. Dumbledore lifted his wand and sent a white whisp toward the castle. There was a moment as they waited, then a lanturn bobbed down the great hill toward the gate.
"Have you thought of where you might stay?" Dumbledore asked Severus, twinkling at him.
Severus shook his head mutely, but the truth was he actually had thought of someone. Only, would Lily Evans -- perfect, popular, princess that she'd become -- even bother speaking to him let alone let him stay at her home?
"I see," said Dumbledore and fell silent as the person with the lanturn reached the gates.
It was their hunched caretaker, a hideous man with a hate for Muggles who'd whispered once or twice of supporting Voldemort with the Slytherins. He smiled croakedly at Severus as he tapped the chains on the gate with his wand. They slunk back, and the gates swung open.
"What's all this about?" the caretaker asked, looking a little gleefull at the sight of Eileen slumped and groaning against the headmaster. Like Peeves, he loved excitement of any sort.
"Never you mind," Dumbledore said grimly. "Go and alert Madame Pomfrey, please."
The caretaker looked sour but hobbled back up to the castle, casting curious glances over his shoulder nonetheless.
As anticpated, Madame Pomfrey was able to mend bones in a heartbeat, and Eileen was soon fast asleep in bed, her head bandaged where her late husband had struck her.
"But who is she, Dumbledore?" Madame Pomfrey whispered anxiously, watching Eileen's pale face and lanky hair. She had not seen Severus, who had been swept away to the headmaster's office at once, and therefore, had not put two and two together.
"Ah," said Dumbledore, touching the tips of his fingers together. He was seated near Eileen's bed, his legs crossed, and a magazine of knitting patterns close at hand. "Remember Madame Prunessca's recent resign?"
"That old puffed up librarian?" Madame Pomfrey said heatedly and then covered her mouth as if she'd forgottened who she was speaking to.
Dumbledore smiled, "That would be her. Madame Pince, here, is taking her place as librarian. There's a great deal of paper work involved, as she's highly experiencedand will be requesting a certain amount of pay . . ." He rose to his feet as he spoke and stretched.
"So it's off to the Ministry with you," confirmed Madame Pomfrey, nodding. "Well, I can only hope she's a site nicer than Prunessca -- " she paused again, catching herself, and Dumbledore smiled reassuringly out of the corner of his eye. "What happened to her, anyway?" Madame Pomfrey asked, flushing.
Dumbledore's expression became grave.
Madame Pomfrey gasped, "You don't mean . . .?"
"We shall have to keep it secret, Poppy. You understand. If Voldemort -- " Madame Pomfrey winced, but Dumbledore carried on as if she hadn't " -- gets wind that his escaped and highly valuable victim is currently residing in the school . . ."
"But he wouldn't dare!" gasped Madame Pomfrey, waving a hand. "Not while you're here, Dumbledore, surely! You're the only one he ever -- "
"Oh, now you flatter me," Dumbledore said, shaking his head and smiling as if she were naughty. "And now I must be going. Paperwork, you see."
Madame Pomfrey nodded and tucked Eileen's sheets more tightly around her arms.
The lie served well, and Dumbledore left the hospital wing to return to his office, where Severus sat, waiting anxiously in a chair. He stood when the headmaster entered.
"Please, retake your seat, dear boy, you're mother is quite fine," Dumbledore assured him.
Relieved, Severus sat.
"But what's going to happen to us, sir?" he asked.
"Your mother will stay on at Hogwarts as Madame Pince the librarian --provided, of course, that I can persuade her to."
"And me?"
There was a pause as Dumbledore surveyed Severus over the tips of his long fingers.
"Have you no relatives?"
"None that I know of, sir," Severus said solemnly.
Dumbledore sighed. "For right now, Severus, I would like you to remain with a friend until such a time as we can provide more permanent arrangements. Your aliby shall be that you were with said friend when the accident accured and witnessed nothing of your father's death."
There was a pause as Severus consented with a mute nod, swallowing thickly.
"Yes, sir," he muttered.
"Now," said Dumbledore. "With whom would you prefer to stay? Have you a trusted friend that I can make your summer arrangements with?"
Severus stared at his own lap, debating with himself as he remembered the last time he'd seen Lily face to face and the flush on her face when he'd pushed her away. He decided at last that Lily would always have a bigger, more forgiving heart than his own.
"There's someone . . ." Severus muttered at last.
"Yes?"
"Lily Evans."
Dumbledore eyes twinkled, "Ah, the admirable Miss Evans. A wonderful choice. I shall write to her at once. I'm sure she'll be more than obliged . . ."
But Severus wasn't listening. He was thinking of Lily, his mother, and what would happen to him the following summer when he had worn out his welcome with Lily Evans.