Chapter Twenty

"Did you see Charity's article in the prophet?" Severus asked Elaine a few days later as they were sitting at the table eating breakfast. Elaine shook her head, spooning oatmeal in her mouth as Severus slid the paper across the table. She placed her spoon down and picked the newspaper up, scanning the article.

"She's in danger, isn't she?" Elaine questioned softly, looking up to meet Severus's dark eyes. The potions master nodded, looking grim. "What is it?"

"The dark lord was asking for her to be brought to him several weeks ago, but he held off as we waited for the verdict with Albus-" his voice slightly shook at the name, but he kept on. "-but this will have drawn attention back to her tenfold. I won't be surprised if the dark lord calls for her capture today, and she's not hard to find."

Elaine thought back to the muggle studies professor. They hadn't spent much time together the past year, her commitments while at Hogwarts had prevented that, however she knew the woman to be a kind person who truly cared about everybody - whether they were muggles or not, which seemed to be the basis of this article. "Is there any - I don't think we can offer her protection now, can we?"

Severus scoffed. "As if she'd take it, even when she did like me." He stood, pacing the kitchen. "No, I think our best bet is to wait, and hope-" He flinched, grasping his forearm. "He's calling. I love you." And he dissapparated away.

Elaine hadn't yet said those words, but Severus didn't seem to mind. He said them before leaving each time the dark lord called, as if now that he realized that's what Elaine meant to him, he wanted her to know as much as possible. She suspected it had something to do with what he'd never told her - something about her mother. Dumbledore had hinted to such a thing multiple times but it was never clear, and she didn't dare bring it up for fear he was only with her out of necessity or out of loyalty to her deceased mother.

But Elaine wasn't ready, not after everything that had happened with Ben. His picture had been blasted in the newspapers back when he was revealed to be alive, but nobody had brought it up to her. Not even Susan Bones, who's aunt he had supposedly died saving, had come up to her, though the girl had given her several questioning looks since.

She felt something strong for Severus, which could, perhaps, be love, but it was more likely to be lust. Elaine wasn't sure it was possible for her to love anymore. The time spent with him was wonderful, of course, she wouldn't ever deny that - but love was a strong word, and for Elaine, a word she didn't expect to say ever again.

Her days had become dull. All she had to do while Severus was at his meetings was sit around and wait, and so she'd begun writing letters to Rowan, even if she didn't know whether he'd get them. She kept a small muggle diary for this purpose, and just wrote to her son - wrote about how he'd been as a baby, her hopes for him as an adult, her hopes for a world without the dark lord. She even wrote about Ben, about their marriage, and how she felt now that he was - not gone, but gone from her.

Severus knew about the diary, but he'd promised he wouldn't read it, promised that if something happened to her he'd send it to Chester for Rowan to read when he was older. What they would do if they both died hadn't been discussed.

Elaine did go out and visit the rest of Spinner's end during long days. There was a park less than a block away, and as rusty and old as the equipment was, she found herself sitting on the swings and just enjoying the fresh air. On occasion a child would come, and she'd leave, not wanting to upset the parents with spotting a strange woman sitting alone. She was aware of how that would come across.

Otherwise, however, she was quite bored when Severus wasn't there.

But today, as she sat at the kitchen table and read and re-read Charity's article, she seriously started thinking about the future if she and Severus survived, if Harry won.

For Severus had told her of the prophecy, of how Harry had to be the one to kill the dark lord. Harry, her little brother, who she'd sworn she would get to know and then had abandoned after five conversations with the boy. This made her feel guilty,

If they all lived, she'd have a relationship with him. It would be a tough start, after everything that they'd done and been through and would go through, but she hoped it would be possible.

She would aim to get Rowan back. This was her top priority, but also the hardest. With the rest of the Davies family in the States, there was no guarantee any message would get to them safely.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the slamming of the front door, making her jump. She hadn't heard the crack of apparation and so, grasping her wand, made her way to the front door. But it was only Severus, who looked at her grimly.

"We are both invited to a meeting this evening," he told Elaine, sinking into an armchair. "He's captured Charity Burbage and plans to ... interview... her at a later date. Not tonight, however. He has a gift for you." The dark look on his face told Elaine all she needed to know; he'd gotten Ben out of Azkaban, and planned to kill him. "I suggest you get some rest. I've been warned it shall be a late night."

Later that evening, as Severus and Elaine marched up the walk that led to the Malfoy's door, Elaine found that she could hardly breathe for fear. She was sure the dark lord would question her about Rowan, and although she knew what to say, she was also sure that the dark lord would not be pleased.

When Lucius greeted them and led them upstairs, Severus gave her hand a squeeze in comfort before releasing it and going in to greet the dark lord. Soon after, Elaine was called in.

Benjamin was lying prone on the floor, blood gushing out of his arm. Elaine inhaled quickly at the sight as she passed him, going to kneel before the dark lord.

"Elaine, welcome," the dark lord hissed, gesturing for her to rise. She did so, taking her place beside Severus. Once everyone had been greeted and gone to their places, the dark lord spoke to the group as a whole. "Here we have Benjamin Davies, who was once a loyal follower of mine. Many of you know him, in fact."

"Coward," Bellatrix spat.

"Yes, indeed," the dark lord said with a grin. "He is a coward, faking his own death in order to flee my service. Not only did he betray his own wife, he betrayed me, and that is not done." He glanced down at Benjamin, who had climbed to his knees and frozen that way, his eyes drifting from the dark lord to Elaine. "The punishment is death."

Silence swept through the room, but Elaine would have bet a thousand galleons that none of those gathered there were actually surprised.

"Elaine." The dark lord's voice cut through the silence and she looked up at him, startled at being singled out. "This man betrayed you. He left you to raise your son alone, to be hunted down by the ministry, he then kidnapped your son and forced you to send him away for his own safety. How long has it been since you've seen your son?"

"A - a couple of months, my lord," Elaine said.

"A couple of months. And he's two?"

"Three now, my lord."

"Three years old. Tsk." The dark lord began to pace, stopping in front of Lucius. "Would you have wanted to be parted from your son when he was three years old, Lucius?"

"Of course not, my lord," was the response, the blonde's eyes briefly flickering to Elaine, who had no idea what the dark lord was planning with this line of thought.

"No. Because a parent should not be separated from their child." The dark lord paced again, stopping in front of Elaine. "And that is why I am giving you a gift this evening, Elaine."

"What gift, my lord?" Elaine questioned, not risking looking at her husband still on the floor.

"The gift of being able to be the one to kill him, of course."

Elaine's heart plummeted, and she felt suddenly cold, as if all the warmth had gone out of the room, taking her breath with it. "I - I'm sorry, my lord?"

"Kill him." The dark lord marched up to a seat and sat down, his red eyes not leaving Elaine's face. "You were hurt by him, were you not? Your husband abandoned you, tried taking your child from you, stole your child, in fact. Kill him, and get your revenge."

Elaine swallowed hard, looking at Benjamin. His face had gone chalk white as he stared at his former master, at his wife. "Surely -" Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. "Surely you want the honor, my lord?"

"Kill him, Elaine, or you both die."

Elaine drew her wand and walked up next to Benjamin. Images flickered through her mind; their wedding day, Rowan's birth, among many others. She'd never killed anyone and wasn't sure whether she had it in her, but she lifted her wand, pointing it at Ben. "Are you even sorry?" She asked coldly. "You left your son and I with nothing, forced your brothers away from Hogwarts just to spite me, and are you even sorry?"

But Benjamin sneered. "No."

Elaine bit her lip, glancing back at Severus. Her lover nodded briefly, telling her quietly to do it, and so she took a deep breath. "Avada Kedavra." A green light flashed, and her husband lay dead on the floor.

A cheer went through the ranks, and it took all Elaine had to stay on her feet for the next hour as she was offered congratulations by various death eaters. Severus squeezed her shoulder gently when he passed her during the celebrations, but Elaine could barely feel his touch. When they were finally dismissed, Elaine was first out the door, and first back to the house on Spinner's End. She locked herself in the bathroom as everything she'd eaten came back up and then some. She could hear Severus knocking on the other side, and then there was a click and he was bending next to her, but her world went black and she knew nothing else.