Literally a minute after Lucius had disapparated, pulling both Draco and Izzy with him, Lupin, Sirius and Tonks burst in,

"What's going on?" Remus gasped, "We heard noises and…"

"Remus." The party caught sight of Hermione crouched on the ground, weeping uncontrollably over something. Nymphadora moved around to comfort the hysterical girl but drew back with a cry of horror mingled with disgust as she saw the body of Severus Snape lying, crumpled, on the floor,

"Oh my god!" She whispered, "What happened?" Hermione turned her trar-stained face up towards the young woman,

"I-I don't know exactly…I came down because I heard a noise and…and I came down. Izzy told me that Draco had had a fight with Lucius and when Snape tried to intervene…Lucius k-killed him…" The girl gave a dry sob and bent over as though in pain, "It was Avada Kedrava." She told them, voice wavering, "And He took Draco and Izzy."

"Took him?" Lupin exclaimed in shock," Took him where?" But Hermione simply shook her head helplessly,

"I-I don't know. They just vanished. It's like it's happening all over again…back to square one…" Tonks draped her arms around the girl's trembling shoulders and hugged her close,

"We'll get him back." She promised, "And next time, we'll make sure he can't be taken." Hermione made an unbelieving noise in the back of her throat, but it was stifled by a yawn. The metamorphmagus helped her gently to her feet and began to steer her from the room, "Come on, you're exhausted. You'll feel better in the morning." When Lupin was sure that the girls were out of ear-shotm he rounded angrily on Sirius,

"Well you were sympathetic weren't you." Sirius shrugged,

"Well what do you expect me to say?"

"Someone has just been killed." Remus reminded him coolly, "And a boy has just been kidnapped. You could, at least, pretend that you care."

"Well, I don't care. So why should I pretend?" Sirius snapped back, "The boy is where he should be; at home. You know that I never liked Snape, so why should I be upset hen he's dead? It's not like you ever liked him either."

"But I never hated him." Lupin retorted, "Because I never had a reason to do so. And neither did you." Sirius opened his mouth to argue, but Remus turned away, "Anyway, what difference does it make now? It's too late to look back. You need to learn to let go of the past, Sirius, or it'll hold you back forever." Sirius scowled at his friend's back,

'Damn you and your bloody philosophy.' He muttered sulkily in his head,

"Why do you care about what happens to the boy anyway?" He said out loud, "What's he to you?" But all Remus could to was to shrug,

"I guess he reminds me a bit of you." He replied with an amused smile.

"Shut up." Lupin laughed, which just proceeded to irritate the dark man even more. "It's not funny! He's nothing like me! Why would you say something so ridiculous?"

"Oh be quiet. I have things to think about and you're putting me off." Lupin slumped wearily down onto the couch, a sudden tiredness over coming him,

"Like what?" Sirius asked stupidly. Lupin shot him with a look that clearly said 'Idiot.' But he was wise enough not to say it out loud,

"Like what are we going to do about Draco? How are we going to tell everyone what has happened? And even if we can rescue him, who is Draco's guardian now?" Sirius pondered these questions for a while then said slowly,

"You know, I really don't like the way that you keep saying 'we'."


A/N: Heya! sorry bout the late update but the uploader was being dodgy :)

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