Disclaimer: I own nothing, but my thoughts of AU and OC, the rest all belong to J K Rowling.

chapter 38

Remus Lupin was on his toes the moment, he had started feeling the surge of Severus's magical force, bristling against his own. A quick glance around the room had given more thrust to his growing unease. Narcissa Malfoy too was shooting pleading glances at him. His mother in law next to her was trying to signal him to root himself behind Severus. Draco Malfoy frightened eyes were darting towards him now and then. Though that man had learned to mask all that under the guise of nonchalance. And like him, the Malfoy Head did not put his trust entirely on the Goblin's tale. He had questioned and had pushed at the other's buttons. Lupin had sensed those subtle shifts in Griphook's mods, goblin or not, that man was certainly holding onto his withering senses for too long.

Lupin knew first hand Severus Snape's prowess. But today, he was certain he was tasting his extents. When the young Sytherin Headmaster had closed his eyes to hold on to his slipping control for the last time, unlike many others, Lupin had quietly made for the banister again. If Snape would end up hurting all the others while unleashing that fury burning within his heart, someone should be around to handle him instead.

And Time was of greater importance. While others were mercilessly tossed out of the room, portraits dropped off from their perches and shattered across the floor, chairs exploded, the headmaster's desk, crashed on the spot, the tall bookshelves broke off, books and parchments ripped themselves apart- the werewolf thought perhaps, this was how those disaster-hit seaside towns looked like after a hurricane had passed over.

And in a bated breath, he waited. Standing still, under the staircase, beside the shelf of potions, he pressed himself into the stone wall as he watched in horror, potions from broken bottles evaporated into ominous mist. There were other concoctions whose liquid contents had started overflowing and dripping on the flagged stone floor.

From his hideout, he watched Fawkes coming to Severus's aid. While the phoenix sang, Lupin too had felt his nerves relaxing to the soft chirping. Right in front of his eyes, Severus had swayed in response, a while later, he had crumbled into a heap. His billowing robes, surrounding him like ripples of a dark lake. And he had moaned, hitting himself with growing force. A little later, he held up his wand and a curious case. In rapt attention Lupin watched him talking to himself, in broken words. Then all too soon, he was on his feet stumbling his way upto the banister and dashing up the stairs hitting on the boards with such determined forces that Remus feared they might crash under the man's weight.

The moment the door of his private quarters had banged against its hinges and was shut close, the rampant magic, making those pages and scrolls whirl in the thick air of the destroyed office had dropped on the floor. Undecided and scared for his own safety, the DADA professortook a couple of deep breaths and thought of counting numbers to steel his nerves. A psst psst sound from the right surprised him. Coming out of his hideout in muffled tiptoes, he discovered that the portraits of Dilys Derwent and Phineas Black have miraculously survived. And it was Dilys who had been beaconing him to come closer still. Kneeling in front of the portrait of the dead headmistress, he whispered in a shaky voice, "What…?"

The portrait looked at him crossly and replied in a hurry, "Get a grip Mr. Lupin, grab those phials from under the debris, check on Adriana's portrait. Poor lass was never able to handle too much strain, wrap her portrait up and keep it close to the door. Once Severus allows you to leave, which he will, don't worry, trust me, you look whole and intact, the others are definitely doing much worse. Go up, and stand quietly near that hideous door to those private chambers, never was good enough on those hinges. He would need you. Trust me, he surely would."

Nodding back like an obedient schoolboy, the man grabbed the intact phials, and shoved them into his coat pocket. Next, he walked up to the other portrait, leaning against the broken excuse of a stool, with a covering Adriana Dumbledore peeking from behind a pillar of a grey arch. He wrapped the portrait and tiptoed close to the door, and gently placed the frame against the wall, next to it. He thought of trying the exit door, but with magic bristling over it like a thin sheet of a veil, he decided against it. Standing up, turning towards the staircase, he glanced up to the other unscratched portrait and nodded at them reassuring. Then without deterring any further, he crept up. Cautiously he tried the doorknob but ended up burning his palm with a nasty jinx. He could hear sounds coming from the other side. Resigning his fate to those powers he had long started believing in, he placed his ears at a crack on the door and listened on.

Snape's eyes had grown wider when newer realizations had started knocking at his disposition in full force once again. In reverence he muttered "baby's breadth"- then he was clambering across the ruined office, ancient books and tomes, glass and scrap wooden crushing under his dragonhide boots. Taking the stairs at two, he hurriedly got into the chambers. Without being aware, he simply flicked his wand at the door. And made his way into his bed chambers. The candles lit up at the approach of its occupant and the light bathed the walls with a dull golden glow.

Severus sensed the presence of the werewolf at the other side of the closed door, but he was past caring for accusing him to take his snout out of others' affairs. This was about Lily and about Hermione, and Severus was sane enough to understand, he would need to rely on someone like one patient and cool headed Remus Lupin.

Once inside his sparsely furnished bed-chamber, Severus with shaking hands opened the ribbon tied letter given by Draco. It read,

"How do I love thee… (1)

If thou must love me (2)

E.B.B

When his tears started falling afresh, a few drops landed on the piece of the parchment, more lines appeared in the elegant script of his long-dead friend.

When old age shall this generation waste,

Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

J K, G urn

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."

Aristotle

"Good Morrow" my sage "Good morrow".

JD

Severus dropped to his knees. Holding his face within his palms, he started weeping. "Oh! Merlin! Lilac!"

His head was pounding. His heart was throbbing in his veins. A stray owl hooted close to the nearby window. His head snapped at the sudden sound. And in trembling hands, he leaned forward and unlocked the last compartment of his dresser. From within it, he brought out a crate. With great caution, he canceled the spells that kept it secured, undetectable. Under the flickering light of the candles, one could see several small globes of glass-lined up neatly within. Every inch of the crate was filled with glass globes, and within each globe, small bouquets of baby's breath were kept, fresh like the day they were cut from their bushes. He ran his hands over all of them, speaking to himself, "She knew, she knew, and I had pushed her away."

"Oh! Merlin, she knew…she knew, and she had tried to tell me, I was not alone and that I had a reason to live once again."

Among the glass globes, there was an old notebook. With utmost care, he picked that up and opened it. In the middle, two pages from each half were joined together and had been cut out to represent a three-dimensional bunch of baby's breaths. Below the pop-out image, in small handwriting the words glowed "written drawn by SS, painted by LE."

The first half of the notebook was covered with doodles of sage leaves and on each page, quotes of love, friendship, spring were written, they were mostly from famous muggle poems. Sobbing still, reverently, he closed the notebook and held it close to his chest. Along with it, he picked up the letter, and a single glass globe, that still cushioned a fresh bunch of baby's breaths. With that he started howling in pain and anguish. Rocking on his knees, wailing at his loss, he allowed those locked up hopelessness to fall. Tears of desolation tumbled one after the other. Finally, in realized panic, he uttered," Lil, Oh! Lil, all these while, all these years…"He picked himself up from the floor and hurled himself across the glass windows looking out to the grounds of Hogwarts.

Since Severus had forgotten to place a silencing spell on his door, Lupin could hear him rave and wail through the door. The werewolf had to place his palms on the doorframe, to keep his struggling emotions reined up, but he could not foresee how tears were now rolling down his miserable face. Then he heard a loud crash, and simultaneously the main door to the office clicked open. Surprised and hopeful, he tried the door to Severus's chambers. A second later, with a yelp he nestled the bruised palm, and grimaced, "the jinx is still active."

Making up his mind, he dashed down the staircase, barreled across the office, picking up the wrapped-up portrait of Adriana Dumbledore, flung the exit door open and ran down the spiral staircase. At the cue of his arrival, the gargoyle statue jumped aside. And Remus Lupin found himself face to face with the apparition of "Knight of the undead". Fearing for his life, he scrambled back, his face that had been lit up with urgency and determination to reach for the grieving the Headmaster had gone ashen, fearing for his own life. As soon as he had fallen back, the apparition faded away.

A/N: Do drop a word, reviews will help me tackle these depressing times.