Chapter Six: Traitor

Severus blinked his eyes and found, when he finally thought to surveillance his surroundings that he was standing in the middle of Albus Dumbledore's office. The old man himself was seated behind his desk, an amused twinkle lurking behind his half-moon spectacles.

"Lost, Severus?" He jested.

Immediately, the bewilderment that Severus had been feeling for the past ten minutes, gave away to a feeling akin to unadulterated fury. He swiped a rigid hand through his dark tresses, his legs beginning to pace the length of the room of their own accord.

"That little bitch!" He exclaimed.

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose in enquiry. "You must be speaking about my granddaughter. She tends to have such an effect on people." He chuckled to himself, thinking of all the egos he has had to sooth as a result of his granddaughter's blunt tongue and foolish impulsiveness.

"She just…how could…DAMMIT!" A man, who so rarely raised his voice, was now reduced to the point of yelling. And it did not go unnoticed, Severus was furious with that little slip of a girl for being the cause of this uncharacteristic sign of emotion.

Suddenly, he rounded on Albus. "You must send me back. She is outnumbered seven to one! She will never make it out of there alive! Foolish girl!"

When Albus made no move to configure a portkey to send him back to Malfoy manor, Severus deflated. "Old man, what the hell do hope to gain by leaving your own granddaughter with seven of the dark lord's most powerful allies?" He demanded in a voice that had the usual effect of intimidating to the point of submission whoever was on the other side of it.

It had no visible effects on the headmaster, however.

Instead, Albus was studying the man with a keen eye, a look of dawning realization alighting his aged face and creasing his brow in thoughtfulness. "I see." He muttered softly to himself.

Coming back to his immediate senses, Albus straightened his back. "If Lilianna thought it fit to send you back while facing your mutual foes on her own, then that was her decision. It was a sacrifice she deemed worthy enough to make on your behalf. By sending you back where she so selflessly sent you away from, you are doing nothing more than belittling her sacrifice."

"Better belittle her damn sentimentality than to leave her there to die."

Silence. Utter, total silence. It made Severus increasingly uncomfortable. Then, Albus tilted his head to the left, towards the golden perch often found supporting his resting phoenix. It was vacant.

"Also, if you care to look, you will find that Fawkes has taken it upon himself to aid Lilianna in her struggles. He left just seconds before you arrived. If my ponderings are not slighted, I should think we have very little to concern ourselves with. After all, Lilianna has proven herself against the odds before when facing down a roomful of dark wizards. I should not think this time will be any different."

Severus let forth a noise that sounded almost as if it were a grunt. But rather in agreement or frustration, Albus could not have said. He watched as the younger man swept another hand through the length of his hair. It was a nervous habit that revealed itself only when he was feeling the strongest of emotions.

Albus marveled at the discovery he had made this night. How blind must he have been to not have noticed their attraction before this?

But before either his or his companion's thoughts could race to far ahead, a blinding flash of scarlet flame illuminated the office.

They had just readjusted their eyes to the stiller light of the room, as it had been before Fawkes brilliant arrival, when first their ears caught the sound of labored breathing.

Severus reached the young woman first, just in time to catch her as she fainted from the immense pain that was contracting the muscles in her back.

His arms enclosed around her waist, supporting her until he could support himself well enough to fold her in his arms completely. Cradling her as one might a child, high against his chest, he carried her through to Dumbledore's living quarters, lying her atop a bed in the guest bedroom.

Having realized the wound was on her back from feeling the sticky warmth of her blood seeping through her torn gown and unto his hands as he carried her, laid her down on her stomach. He came to kneel over her, ripping the back of the gown the rest of the way open to expose her seared flesh.

A long cut reached across the pale skin from the bottom of her left shoulder blade to the very small of her back. It was deep, and the bleeding was hardly subsiding.

He knew the curse for what it was immediately. After all, he had been an expert in the dark arts once upon a time. The spell was designed to cause a peril wound to a body, the black magic not allowing for healing by a wand. It was a spell cast with the intention of delivering a slow death, unable for anyone who might come across the victim to reverse the effects.

He swore.

Before he could provide any medical aid, however, Albus strode into the room with Madame Pompfrey just behind him. The seasoned mediwitch quickly took control of the scene. Sending both men on errands to fetch such simple ingredients as torn cloths and warm water.

It was an hour in the making, having to take each step of the medical procedure without the use of her wand. When finally the wound was clean and enough pressure had been added to clot the bleeding, Poppy tapped her wand along the divided flesh, sealing it with an invisible glue.

"There," She proclaimed. "That should keep the wound protected from infection. I dare say she will be just fine, though the healing will be slow, and painful at first."

The men left Lilianna to rest in the guest bedroom once she had come around and they had exchanged a few words with her. Severus had said very little, and by the soft smirk that had played across his granddaughter's face, Albus figured she knew just how upset Severus was at being sent away from danger as though he were a boy.

Later that night found Severus sitting before the grand hearth in the headmaster's sitting area. He was sipping at a scotch that Albus was rather fond of but which he himself found utterly revolting. His rage, which had dissipated in the face of such great concern for the well being of that foolish little girl, had returned full force, and he was just barely managing to withhold the strength in his fingers that were threatening to shatter the glass in his hand.

"I must say Severus," Began Albus as he returned from his office where he had been brought a student by Minerva to deal out punishment. "I am not the least bit sorry that you're cover has been blown. Granted, we shall hurt a bit from the missing information that you could have brought us. But in the greater picture, your death sentence has now been extended a good deal." His fading blue eyes were twinkling merrily at his own joke. " You caused me quite a deal of worry when you went off on such nights, leaving to answer a summons from Voldemort."

Enraged by the light-hearted dealing of such a dire situation that Albus was currently portraying, Severus ground his teeth, spitting out words between intakes of breath meant to sooth his anger. "I shall not even be able to set foot off of school grounds."

"That's not true, my boy! You shall have plenty of opportunity to stay on at headquarters."

Such a statement of which Severus thought sounded much more like a sentence of penance, was the last tip that tilted the lid. Slamming his glass down with such force on the coffee table situated just in front of him, that it shattered despite his attempts at leveling his strength. He stood from his seat and strode purposefully from the room.