Chapter 14
As the sun sank further into the horizon and the sky
blended into deep shades of red and purple, Lucius
remained at the base of the window, staring out into
the sky with images of his son and wife hanging in his
mind. He didn't know if he had ever loved his
Narcissa. His marriage had more to do with duty and
rank than anything else. But he knew that he was
obligated to protect her relation. Even more, she had
given him a son and she loved that son. He would do
anything for the child that he loved so much. Narcissa
had provided him with a responsibility far greater
than anything that he owed to his family name. He
would not send Draco to the same fate that likely
awaited him when he would inevitably displease his
master.
His thoughts of his family were penetrated by the
sound of Severus' words that had lodged themselves in
the back of his mind. With the words so fresh in his
conscious and his master's will laying heavy on his
heart, Lucius' expression evolved from one of resigned
despair to one of a new urgency.
Taking his first few steps away from the window, he
became aware of how sore his legs were. He couldn't
tell if it was from standing in one position for so
long or from the burden that he now carried. Taking
one last fleeting glimpse toward the direction of the
chamber that held Severus and the Potter child, he
quickened his pace toward the castle's egress.
*
* *
* *
Almost a full day had passed by since the abduction of
her student and colleague. McGonagall had taken
refuge in Dumbledore's office with the elder wizard,
both adults sitting in silent reflection. Dumbledore
had taken to smoking a long, thin pipe while
McGonagall had taken to glaring at an offending wall
with her arms folded in a cross manner. No word or
sign of the fate of the two had been heard or seen.
The air in the room felt heavy with anguish.
Rumors had already begun to spread among the students
about the absence of Harry and Severus. It had been
obvious to McGonagall that Ron had only told Hermione
what had really happened to Harry. She had seen
several groups of students badgering the two about the
Harry's whereabouts. Though they put on a cold
exterior, she could see past it and see the desperate
worry in their eyes.
Breaking the almost impenetrable silence, Dumbledore
spoke softly to his old friend. "Minerva, why don't
you try and get some rest? You haven't slept in two
days."
McGonagall scoffed at the suggestion. "Stop pretending
that everything is fine, Albus," she snapped,
projecting her anger onto the man.
Dumbledore was unabated by the woman's cold response.
Sighing, he got to his feet and, walked across the
room and sat in a chair adjacent to her. "I know that
this is terribly difficult for you. I know what they
both mean to you," he said in a consoling tone.
"And it's not difficult for you?" She replied in an
exhausted voice. "I know that the two of them meant,"
she paused momentarily to compose herself, "mean as
much to you as they do to me."
Dumbledore detected a bit of moisture in the witches
eyes. "We mustn't give up hope. Severus and Harry have
shown that they are quite capable of taking care of
themselves." The last part contained a bit more hope
than either of them felt at the moment but the gesture
was not lost on McGonagall.
With a short scoff, a forced smile appeared on her
lips. "He'll be lucky to get to either of those two
before they get to each other."
There was no doubt in Dumbledore's mind who she had
meant by 'he.' But, with a little laugh to himself,
Dumbledore nodded in agreement. "Yes, those two do
seem to be at quite a loss with each other."
The elder man stopped when he saw a tear fall down the
woman's cheek.
McGonagall sighed heavily and wiped the tear away from
her face with a clumsy hand. "I'm sorry, Albus," she
said in a choked voice, "I know that I'm not being any
help."
Dumbledore took the woman's hands into his own and
gave her an encouraging smile. "There's no need to put
up an appearance of being brave when you have already
proven that you are."
McGonagall smiled back through her tears. "Well, what
are we waiting for?" She stood and wiped her face with
her fingers. "There's work to be done to protect the
other students."
Dumbledore followed suit, getting to his feet. "Yes,
off to it," he said with a bit of his old spark in his
eyes.
*
* *
* *
Sirius sat on the edge of the astronomy tower, leaning
against an adjacent wall. It had been a day since
Harry had been abducted and no word had come. He
hadn't eaten anything since he had heard. The thought
of eating made him sick to his stomach.
"Padfoot," a tired voice came from behind him.
Remus had come with him to the tower. Sirius was
thankful that he had a friend such as this after
everything. He was grateful to have someone who knew
how he felt, but right now he just wanted to be alone.
"You sound tired, Moony," he replied in an equally
tired voice taking his eyes away from the lake and
noting the moon's state, almost full.
"Come down from there. A student might see you and
then you would have to go into back into hiding,"
Remus said, taking a few steps closer to the man.
Sirius shook his head. "I should've been there for
him. I shouldn't have let this happen. James and Lily
trusted me to do this one, simple thing and I
couldn't."
"Sirius, you know that this isn't your fault," Remus'
voice was full of concern for his friend.
The animagus pulled his knees up to his chest and
folded his arms protectively around them. "I should
have been there."
The werewolf held his hand out to his friend. "Please
come inside. When Harry gets back, I don't think that
he'd be happy to hear that you landed yourself back
into Azkaban by being careless and letting someone see
you."
Sirius looked at his companion's outreached hand for a
moment before finally accepting it. Deep down he knew
that Remus was right and that this was not really his
fault. But the feeling of guilt was still there. The
best he could do for Harry right now was to hope for
the best and to be there when, not if, he go back.
Remus wrapped his worn cloak tightly around his
shoulders and waited for Sirius to enter the castle's
protective walls before entering in them himself.
The two made their way to an empty room in the
hospital wing that Pomfrey had cleared out for them.
There had been no question on the need for secrecy
when it came to Sirius, but Remus had nothing to fear
from being seen. Dumbledore, however, had thought it
wise to keep his presence unknown so as not to raise
any unnecessary questions.
*
* *
* *
Harry had found himself once again watching his
Potions professor imitatively pacing the length of
dungeon. He found that this was a more comforting way
of passing the time than thinking of the different
ways that Voldemort might kill him.
Severus inwardly cursed himself. Why couldn't it have
just been him in Voldemort's dungeon? The boy
complicated matters. If it were only him here, he
could just die quietly. It was probably no more than
he deserved. But now he had to get Potter back to
Dumbledore. How the hell was he going to do that?
There were too many Death Eaters to make a run-for-it
escape. Voldemort likely had every exit watched. He
would not be careless this time.
He had made another circle and was heading to the back
wall. But this time, as he neared the wall, he did not
turn. Instead, he strode straight for it at full
force, bringing his fists crashing into the stone.
Harry jumped slightly at the movement. He had never
seen a professor lose their composure like that. The
effect was multiplied by the man's disheveled hair and
stubble. Harry had never seen his professor in
anything other than in the utmost dignified manner.
Severus took his fists away from the wall, but leaned
into the stone, the support of his forehead being the
only thing that kept him on his feet. He closed his
eyes tightly, clenching his fists so firmly that he
could feel his fingernails digging into his palms.
Harry pushed himself to his feet when he did not see
any sign of movement from his professor. He found
himself partially concerned for the man's welfare and
partially concerned about the man's sanity.
Severus let out a loud, frustrated sigh before opening
his eyes again. He looked down at his fists in
irritation. They were useless without a wand.
But something suddenly caught his eye on them. He
reinstated his balance to his legs and taking his left
hand, stroked the outside of his right palm with two
fingers. He brought the two fingers up to his eyes and
rubbed them together, examining them as if they were a
precious stone.
Turning around abruptly, he found the adolescent on
his feet looking at him in an odd manner.
"Potter," he said in an almost cheerful voice that
only furthered Harry's thoughts that he might have in
fact lost his sanity.
"Professor?" Harry replied in a nervous tone.
"Can you swim?"
*
* *
* *
Author's note: Hey guys, thanks for all of the reviews
for chapter 13! Sorry that this is so short, but I had
to take a break from Engineering Design to write this.
I felt really bad for making the wait so long for
chapter 13 so I thought that I would write this at my
boyfriend's hockey game (With a bit of luck he won't
notice that I'm not watching, though the laptop may be
a bit suspicious…). Hope that you enjoyed it. Thanks
for not giving up on the story though :-) I really do
appreciate all of the reviews that I get, they make my
day! Anyway, the next chapter should be up within the
next couple weeks!