AN: I'm seriously considering putting Beauty and the Beast and Cherry Lipstick on hiatus until I'm done with this one. Not that they haven't really been on one already! But it wouldn't be a very long break since Refuge is reaching its ending. GASP! Now if only I could update faster and get this sandwich smell out of my clothes!

BTW – Reviewers…ya'll totally rock my socks. Thanks for sticking with me in my constant love of procrastination, plot holes, and punctuation errors. Your words of encouragement keep my fingers at the keyboards!

Last Chapter: He had been wrong. It was wrong. Everything was wrong.
The budding, spring world outside, full of waiting promises, stood silent. Hermione could see out the window from her position, noting the trees that did not sway and the fact that all the birds had stopped their chatter. Feeling the baby move toward the side she was laying on, her discomfort of having the bulge press up against her drove her to flop over, none too gracefully, on her right side. Expecting him to be sleeping (though her constant movement should have prevented that), Hermione rolled over and was startled to see Remus staring at her.

"What are you doing awake?" she whispered lowly as if trying not to disturb someone else sleeping.

"How could I sleep?" he countered with an amused look on his face. She actually looked very guilty as he said that, not noticing his good-humored expression.

"Maybe I should go back to sleeping in my room then if…if…it's that bad." She began rising up, her hair illuminated from behind by a quarter moon, cutting a sharp figure against the light. But his hand on her shoulder brought her back down slowly.

"I was only joking with you, love." He pulled her in close to him under the covers. Gently, he placed soft kisses on her eyelids, and then moved to the rest of her face, ending with her mouth. They paused in that moment before Hermione broke it with a content sigh and burrowed closer to Remus.

She asked again, muffled, "Why were you really awake?" Her eyes were closed as she rested against his chest. The steady beat of his heart was such a comforting sound and she found herself being lulled back to sleep.

"I was thinking," was his answer. He did not elaborate as to what he was pondering as he simply continued playing with her hair. Yet another reason she was having trouble staying awake.

"Remus," her smile was evident through her voice, "what have I told you about thinking?"

"I don't exactly recall right-" but he stopped short as her mouth found a sensitive spot on his neck.

"I…told…you…" each word was punctuated with another kiss as she made her way up, "that…you…think…" She paused, level with his face, "too much." A slightly devilish grin graced her features before she emphasized the last two words with a rather hard kiss on the mouth which Remus was more than glad to return.

Remus had often thought if Hermione hadn't been pregnant she would have already pounced him on several occasions. She might look all innocent with her nose stuck in those books, but underneath all that was some kind of fire, just burning to get out. Remus was feeling its heat at the moment and it was scorching.

They were both wide awake now as she absentmindedly caressed his cheek and queried, "And what precisely were you thinking about?"

"Oh, everything." A skeptic look from Hermione spurred him on. "You, me, us." He stared out behind her for a bit as the moon sat lower in the sky. "That," he added softly then Hermione felt a warm weight on her abdomen, "and this."

"And what have you concluded?"

"I think it's looking like everything might just turn out alright. What do you think?"

Giving him a swift peck on the cheek, she answered, "I think I have to dash off to the bathroom." Then she did just that, but one couldn't really call her speed a dash. At the door she paused, smiling, "On the other note, I think you could be right."

Remus rolled over to look at the clock. She had gone three hours. That had to be some sort of pregnancy record for longest time between bathroom visits. His drooping eyes snapped open as he detected a slight sound in the hall. Shrugging back down into the covers, he dismissed it as Hermione and waited for her to come back.

She dried her freshly-washed hands on the towel hanging next to the sink. Pausing, she could have sworn she heard a creak of the floorboards. The hall looked the same as it always did as she opened the door and made her way back to Remus' room. Abruptly, she was yanked backwards and a hand clamped itself tightly over her mouth before she had a chance to scream. The other dark-robed arm held her arms fast as she tried to flay violently against it. Slowly, she was dragged backwards farther away from the bedroom. Farther away from Remus. A ring on the hand nearly smothering her was cutting into her lip.

"Easy, little Mudblood. Don't worry; we won't be killing you tonight," he barely whispered in her ear after she stopped thrashing around. She tried to jerk her head back from his finger that slowly stroked her face. He couldn't help but chuckle lowly as more black forms soundlessly materialized. He looked down at the helpless piece of dirt in his grasp. This was too easy at times.

He grinned confidently at the others that were assembling then pointed to the door on his left. Suddenly though his coolness evaporated as he felt himself growing uncomfortably hot. Trying to hold to her was like trying to hold a fire. Becoming too much, he let her go in a frenzy and pushed her away; his clothes smoking, edges in flames.

Wild-eyed, Hermione took in the hulking black robes that quickly descended upon her as soon as she stumbled into the hall's opposite wall. Tendrils of faint smoke rose from her body and she clutched her abdomen in a sudden pain. One thought came to her mind. Scream. "Remus!"

"Sit here."

Snape was slowly lowered into an ornate wooden chair in the Averys formal parlor. A cold was creeping in as the fire, having not been stoked, began to die and the high vaulted ceilings let the little heat remaining escape upward. The rest of the family was at their summer residence, leaving the house vacant. He huddled in on himself as he looked intently at the paper in his hand, his wand continually prodding the paper, violently at times. A few times he would swish it quickly to the left or right and in a sideways S pattern. Furrowing his brow, he nodded to himself in a sense of accomplishment before finally glancing up at the other man.

"I need an owl," Snape said urgently, trying to stand.

Avery pushed him back down. "Keep your seat." He eyed the piece of parchment and the jumbled letters encircling something in the middle. "Are you going to tell me what you've been doing?"

"Evening the odds. This needs to be sent to Albus right away. He must be warned about the upcoming attack." He began to stand again and waved off Avery. "An owl, if you don't mind."

Avery looked put-off by Snape's guardedness, but after a moment, he stalked off to a flight of stairs then briskly whistled. A large brown dappled owl swooped down to perch on his arm. Snape shuffled slowly over to them and scrawled out a quick message on an empty space of parchment then carefully tied it on. "Albus Dumbledore," he muttered to the owl. "Quickly." It sped like a blur out a high window.

"Now," started Snape, "I have to warn them about the attack." He began toward the outside where they had Apparated.

"You can't travel anymore in your condition."

That earned Avery a raised eyebrow. "And you want to go in my stead? Would you like to have all your appendages take off by that werewolf before you could even take a breath to explain?"

Silence was his only answer, along with a characteristic Death Eater glare.

"I can't be in two places at once and I certainly can't send you either way for me. They'd blast you into oblivion. Who knows if they'd believe you even if you were allowed to speak?"

"I think you are underestimating me, Severus. I also don't appreciate your imperious nature, especially in the condition you are in. I got you out of those dungeons and I'm the one in charge."

"Sorry to have bruised your ego, Avery," said Snape coldly. "But I'm your connection to freedom and you had better continue to treat me as such. Now you are going to Apparate both of us to Lupin Lea and I mean right now, I'm not in the mood to show up as the cavalry tonight."

Avery turned red in the face, but held whatever he wanted to say or do inside as he grudgingly followed Snape out the door they had entered not that long ago. He roughly grabbed the other man's shoulder as they stood under calm skies in the back garden and they simultaneously turned out of sight.

"I know you are both concerned and I understand that you want to help, but I'm not sure you accompanying me to their hiding place is such a good idea."

"But, sir, she's our best friend and we haven't seen her for ages. We haven't even heard news from her for a month or so."

"Plus," interrupted Ron, "we discovered that Wormtail had been in the castle. He was up to something. I mean whatever he came in here for it couldn't have been good for her." He shifted impatiently in his seat.

"No, it couldn't have been," echoed Dumbledore quietly, looking more worn-down than usual. He glanced quickly down at a piece of paper that kept drawing his attention back to it. It never changed between looks.

"What could he have been here for, Professor?" asked Harry, perplexed. Like Ron's constant squirming, his foot kept shaking up and down, nervously. Mentally he was trying to break down Dumbledore's barriers by repeating, Let us go, let us go, let us go, let us go.

He regarded them over his steepled, long fingers. "You said he was leaving the Hospital Wing?"

They nodded in unison.

"Poppy's office?"

Nods all around again.

The wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen as he solemnly shook his head. "It can't be true. That should have been taken care of ages ago. Merlin, help us, if it is."

Both of the younger wizards' faces reflected each others bewilderment, waiting for Dumbledore to elaborate as to what he was talking about. But as usual the enigma that was Albus Dumbledore did not. Instead he quickly stood up, motioning for the other two to do the same. "Against my better judgment, you will be accompanying me to 1101 Kingsdown Road. Remember that." He tapped his head thoughtfully.

"Where's that?" ventured Harry as Dumbledore hastily rummaged through a desk drawer.

"Hermione!" answered Ron excitedly. Not really a location or anything helpful along those lines, but the boy had one thing on his mind.

"Lupin Lea, Harry, south of here." Successfully having retrieved a slightly ominous-looking black bag, he turned his attention to Ron, "Yes, that's where Hermione is."

"Lupin?" Ron's brow furrowed in one of his rare bouts of thinking. "You don't mean…"

"You'll be seeing someone else you also know. Now, link arms, please. I don't need either of you getting off ahead of time." With that done, he scooped a bit of shimmery dark powder out, tossing it up in the air. "Oh," he added quickly, "please try not to think too loud. I need to get us there in one piece." And before Ron or Harry could even begin to question what was going on, they spun out of sight.

A large, brown (very peeved-looking) owl watched in annoyance as the three humans disappeared. It turned itself around on the windowsill and waited for them to stop so it could get its recipient's bearings again.

"Remus!"

That scream continued to echo in his ears. He hadn't needed his name called to alert him. Although he may have been a werewolf who could sleep like a rock, he was still a werewolf nonetheless. After the second squeak from the hall's floorboard, Remus resisted the urge to sit up straight in bed as his senses registered someone new. He knew the footsteps he heard were not those of Hermione. They were too heavy; the foot was too big. Somebody else was in the house.

Soundlessly, he had extracted himself from the covers and grabbed his wand from the bedside table. Now from his crouched position by the door, he watched helplessly as Hermione was dragged backward out of view. He couldn't damn well curse whoever it was now. She was being held directly in front of them. Bouncing on his feet in order to get a better look and aim, he saw her tumble into the opposite wall, a crisp smoky smell overtaking his senses. Then a sudden wave of black appeared out of nowhere that quickly descended upon her. At that moment, the cry came and he sprung out into the hall's light.

A quick Stupefy felled the closest Death Eater near him. It was mass chaos as they all pressed in around her with him fighting in the narrow space towards Hermione. She was doing a pretty good job wandless as a bubble appeared around her that the black robes continued to beat on. The rest had realized that they had awoken him. They were soon to realize that they were not to mess with a werewolf's beauty rest. Ever.

At his sudden appearance, the apparent lead Death Eater pointed at him over the mass and shouted, "Take him out!" As an onslaught of black roared toward him, the rest followed the next order. "Get the girl! Get what we came for!"

He shouted, "Protego," and watched as a red-lighted curse bounced of his shield and ricocheted to hit a Death Eater pounding on Hermione's shield. He slid slowly down to the floor; his face pressed against the invisible barrier to land at her feet. The next Death Eater after losing his wand to a well-placed Expelliarmus from Remus unwisely decided to use his fists instead. Raring back, he intended to land one directly in the middle of his advisory's face. On the contrary, he found his own head colliding with the wall, slammed there by Remus' hand, not magic. In the ruckus, he continued to press forward. Like locusts, he thought exasperatedly as he wasn't able to dodge a curse sent his way. A large nasty cut began to bleed through his gray shirt. He'd been through enough transformations, as if something as petty as that was going to slow him down.

Hermione was weakening, he could tell. Her empty hands kept balling into fists as if trying to grip something that wasn't there. She looked helplessly at him as the circle enclosed around her; both of her hands held up slightly as proof to say 'What am I supposed to do without it?'. A sudden thought popped in his head and he yelled out, "Accio Hermione's wand," feeling incredibly stupid that he hadn't thought of it before. A whoosh went by his ear and he deftly managed it about the crowd to her outstretched hand. Wand now at the ready, she blasted several into stiff boards with one Body-Bind. She did have a certain advantage on her side as she blasted a few more while still cradling her abdomen.

Merlin, help them; they were stuck in the hall's small confines. Death Eaters trapped their only way down which was the stairwell. They'd have to get outside before they could Apparate. Finally, blessed finally, he was able to grab her arm and said to her, "We've got to get outside. It's the only way."

She gave him a brisk nod in return before pushing him into the other wall and a few Death Eaters as an acid green curse went flying by, clearly intended for Remus. It hit a woman who did not have time to shriek before the light left her eyes and she crumbled lifelessly to the floor. She quickly glanced over at him to ensure he was okay. He was taking care of the people he had stumbled into, but a well-aimed Expelliarmus took him by surprise and his wand was sent flying down the stairs. In a rash moment, Hermione yelled, "Remus!" Then chunked hers at him which he expertly caught. "I've got a little more help than you do." She briefly pointed down. He looked at her like she had suddenly gone mad which she was pretty sure she had, giving up her defense like that, but he soon turned his attention back to the action and blew away some Death Eaters coming up the stairs for round two.

Then something even stranger happened as they were pressed farther back away from the staircase. Severus Snape tumbled out from their bathroom, whacking one Death Eater with the door, accompanied by a very bad-tempered looking Avery who instantly yelled, "Crucio," at said Death Eater.

Hermione was able to just blink at that for a moment before she had to dodge in order to avoid bits of the house from falling on her as a particularly violent spell shook the hall. Freakishly enough as she wished to retaliate, a wand whizzed by her face onto the floor. Picking it up, she glanced up to see Remus give her a nod and his eyes also turned to saucers at the sudden appearance of the two men. Not that he had any time to ponder it or anything. There was a rather nasty Death Eater trying to kill him at the moment.

He backed up, pulling Hermione protectively behind him as he unrelentingly cursed and hexed all the way, to the two newcomers. "What are you doing here? How'd you get out?" He stared at the man next to a pale Snape, "Avery? What the-" His gaze flitting between the two. Then he simply gave up even comprehending at that point. "Scratch that. It doesn't matter. We've got to get her out of here."

Each shook their head in agreement with Snape muttering, "Bloody cavalry after all." He looked at Remus wearily. "Just coming to warn you is all, Lupin. Though I see they've beaten me to the punch." His gaze unsettled Remus as the other opened his mouth to say more, but a spell rocked them back to their senses and their backs.

Hermione pitched forward away from Remus' protecting grasp into the arms of a Death Eater that promptly tossed her into the nearest open doorway. Her wand lay idle on the floor, having been knocked out of her hands during the shockwave. The others tried to regain their balance and keep from falling on the floor that was pitching in waves.

"Avada Kedavra!" screamed a blonde woman taking advantage of the sudden chaos.

Remus barely glanced up in time to see the vivid green shooting at him. He nearly had to shut his eyes to the brightest as it came closer; there was no time to move. Knowing he should be dead any moment, instead his breath got knocked out of him as a body slammed into his. It twitched violently as the light engulfed it instead and it fell like a heavy weight on top of him. Breathing roughly, Remus pushed off what turned out to be the still form of Avery. Why had he done that for? thought Remus dazedly as he took the hand Snape offered him and got up.

"Come on, Remus," said Snape through gritted teeth; he was in apparent pain. "He's served his purpose. You, however, can't die. Because," he looked at him with this overwhelming remorseful face, "it's you. I was wrong all along. It had never been-"

But Remus cut him off with a "Get down!" and he barely missed hex. "Whatever you're going on about, Severus, will have to wait. Time for talk is later. She's still in that room. Come on!"

Hermione rubbed her back from where she fell onto the floor after being slung into her own bedroom. Groaning, she looked around for her wand. It was nowhere in sight. Dammit, she cursed inwardly. Double that. A Death Eater walked through the door; his wand was definitely not lost. No, it was pointed right at her. "He said he wanted you and the kiddo in one piece," he said, his tongue darting across his upper lip. "He didn't say I couldn't have a little fun with you first, girlie."

Her eyes searched the room for anything, anything at all to help her situation at the moment. They locked on her bedside table's bottom drawer. She frantically scooted back to it; his laughter following her the entire way. Jonathon didn't have much left in him, but she hoped he had enough for this. Her hand wrapped itself around the knob, tugging, and without her wand to undo the charms, it didn't budge.

The Death Eater laughed heartily at her sad attempts. "Problems? Nowhere to go now, poppet." He strode over to her, wand poised. "How about we play a little game? Let's see how loud you can scream."

At that moment, the drawer gave with a mighty pop and its contents fell out to rattle on the floor. He stopped at this change in events, trying to figure out what was going on. Hermione didn't have that luxury. She wasted no time in picking up the silver dagger off the floor and quipped, "The question is – How loud can you scream." Then dutifully sunk it into his thigh, not taking time to revel in his yell, and scrambled away toward the hall. It was actually a welcome sight from earlier. But a hand caught her before she made it.

They were outnumbered. That was for sure. Progress was being made though. Between the two of them, only eight of the henchmen still stood, cutting them off from Hermione and escape. Both looked worse for the wear with Snape barely still able to fire curses. Ultimately, a cutting charm caused him to stagger backwards as he began to pour out blood from a seemingly unimaginable number of slashes. Remus shouted, "Protego!" and held up the shield with his teeth grating as each spell hit. He fell to his knees beside Snape.

"Come on, Severus. You're going to be alright," he said encouragingly, but he knew better. "I'll hold you up. Come on. I can't heal," a nasty Crucio bounced off and he felt the recoil, "you right now. Not safe."

"You'd be no help anyway. I've heard you're hopeless at such things," retorted Snape dryly. "Besides, nothing can help a dying man. Now get your bloody hands off me and save the girl."

"I-I-," stuttered Remus, noticing that she was still trapped in the room. So close, but yet so far way. Glancing back down, he could tell Snape was nearly gone. He only babbled one word over and over again.

"You…you…you…"

Confused again by this remark, Remus said, "What about me?"

But there was to be no answer to that because Snape had slumped against him, his form still and his wand falling from his limp hand. He was dead.

Surprising tears stung in his eyes as he lifted them to take in the crowd of Death Eaters. They were advancing, clearly thinking they had him this time. Remus was the only one left. Anger filled the void where the sadness had been. Anger at Snape's death, at the attack, and at them involving Hermione in this whole affair. With a feral growl usually only heard during the full moon, he rose to his feet and wielding his wand like a sword, he charged into the crowd with abandonment. Recklessly cursing his way to the bedroom door, he rushed inside, shutting the door behind him and sealing it against the other Death Eaters' protests.

His eyes scanned the dark room. Slowly, two figures emerged from the shadows. Remus raised his wand, ready to take out whoever it was so he could grab her and run. However, his grip faltered as the Death Eater held Hermione in front of him, a wicked looking knife held at her throat. The other man's hand held his wand, poking into her side.

"Drop the wand, wolf, or she dies." He pressed the dagger more forcefully against her neck, causing her head to tilt farther back.

"Don't do it, Remus. They need me alive. He won't do it." Her eyes pleaded with him to listen.

The Death Eater pushed the tip of the blade in enough to draw blood. "Don't bet on it, Mudblood. Just because you expire doesn't mean we don't have ways of extracting what we want."

At her sharp intake of breath at the contact, Remus jolted forward, but the other man trained his wand on him causing him to stop. "Pretty little knife," said the Death Eater conversationally. "Right sharp." He held out his leg where the puncture wound and blood could be seen through his robes. "Had it hidden in your room, didn't you?" He leered down at Hermione. "I'd take a guess that it's silver. Wouldn't you, werewolf? Let's find out." He grinned down at her. "Is it?"

Remus' face held a trace of disbelief as Hermione couldn't open her mouth to answer. Her secret revealed by a bloody Death Eater. It wasn't supposed to go like this. "No," she replied shakily. The knife pressed against her windpipe, making it hard to breathe. He asked again. "Yes," she sputtered out, taking in a deep breath as the pressure was released.

"Care to hold it to find out?" He cackled as he waved it briefly at Remus. "No?" The sandy-haired man remained silent. The Death Eater scoffed at him. "What could she have been afraid? Surely not you. Now, drop your wand."

"Don't, Remus, don't," pleaded Hermione as tears filled her eyes.

Stone-faced, he slowly lowered himself to ground and deposited his wand there. Raising both hands, he lifted back up, staring at her. "It's the only way, Hermione."

"Glad you agree. Stupefy!"

Hermione couldn't help but scream as Remus crumpled to floor. The banging on the door seemed to have become louder as the others tried to get in. She slumped in the man's grip as the helplessness of the situation set in. He grudgingly held her up.

"Thank the Dark Lord that he was spared. Oddly enough, he wants you both alive. Though how sad if there had been an 'accident'." He flicked his wand at the door and like an opened floodgate, they poured in. They stopped at the sight of the werewolf's unmoving form. "Take him back to our Master. I've got her."

As they dragged Remus out, Hermione caught sight of a familiar face in the hall's dead or knocked-out pile of bodies. Snape. From there, she could tell his chest was not moving up and down. "Professor Snape," she yelled out as if he'd suddenly awaken and realize what was going on.

The man holding her simply laughed. "No one to help you now. Especially not the dead." Then she felt a wand tip in her ribs and a bright red light engulfed her. She knew only blackness after that.

Nothing moved in the silent, not until a trio swirled into view down in the kitchen. Dumbledore instantly held up his fingers to his mouth, asking for their silence, before drawing out his wand. He motioned them both to do the same. Something wasn't right. They could all feel it. Slowly, he made his way to the stairs with Harry and Ron trailing behind him, eyes darting around nervously.

Their assumptions were right as their first indication lay haphazardly upside down on the staircase. A Death Eater, his mask askew, was knocked out at the base. All eyes lifted to survey the rest of stairs. Several heads poked out at the top landing where the light encased them in a glow. Ron started to say something, but Dumbledore violently shook his head to discontinue whatever he was trying to voice. He beckoned them tofollow his ascent.

What appeared at the landing was beyond even the horrors that had played in their head. A heap of black robes clotted the hall's small confines. In a low whisper, Dumbledore pointed at the doors encircling them and said, "Check the rooms."

The three dispersed in opposite directions, one for each door. After a thorough search and finding neither Hermione nor Remus, they reconvened in the hall.

"Nowhere in sight," mumbled Harry, looking dejectedly around. "Wormtail tipped them off." His face set in harsh mask. "Seems good at that."

"They found her first," burst out Ron angrily. The abrupt sound reverberated around the house.

Dumbledore seemed at a loss for words then quickly regained his speech. "Clearly, they are both still alive since neither is here. That is a small comfort, Ronald. Our next step will be retrieving them from Voldemort's grasp."

"How can we, sir? We don't know where he's holed up at. He could be-"

Harry was cut off by a loud hoot from an oversized chestnut owl that swooped in to land on a body that none of them had taken notice to earlier.

"Snape," gasped Ron and Harry simultaneously.

"Professor Snape," corrected Dumbledore quietly as he knelt next to the man's still body. As the boys joined his side, he slowly closed Snape's blank eyes.

"Merlin," Harry breathed, "they got him. They got him. Always thought he was too big of a prat to actually die." Ron nodded solemnly next to him, actually choking up.

Keeping his senses, the older wizard eyed the owl who kept sticking its leg out at him with purpose-filled eyes. "What has he got?" asked Ron watery, he cleared his throat repeatedly to quell the sound. Harry had tried to discreetly press his fingers to his own overly bright eyes. An occasion neither had ever predicted would have happened.

"A letter." With that, Dumbledore extracted the piece of parchment and watched the owl flit over to another body, hooting over it. Avery and his owl were reunited. Unfolding the tight creases, the scribbled note to him was clearly too late in the coming, but the middle lines caused his eyebrows to shoot up in surprise.

"What is it, Professor?"

Ron groused crossly, "Probably from that bastard gloating. Is it?" He was working himself up to a near frenzy. "When I find him, I'm going to give him-" He never got to elaborate as to what that would have been as Dumbledore held up a hand for him to stop.

"Inadvertently from him, Mr. Weasley." He stood and began making his way through the debris. "Come along. We need to alert the Order. They now have a bearing."

He could be so annoying when he went cryptic like that. "What are you talking about?" asked Harry, exasperated. This was all happening to fast for them to keep up. "What was on the paper?"

"Oh, just an address." He couldn't help but smile grimly at them. "An address in Tom Riddle's handwriting."