Chapter 35

Severus and Harry crouched together in silence. The extra storage was only about a five foot by 5 foot space. Severus' head was bent over because of the ceiling but Harry could at least sit up straight.

No light penetrated the shelter for the refugees to see each other. Severus could feel Harry's quick breathing and could tell that the youth was trying to control it but having difficulty. Severus' own breathing was labored. The wound on his chest stung with each inhalation.

The two could hear Phaedrus' footsteps go to the door followed by the creak of the door opening.

Severus felt Harry's boy tense when they heard Pettigrew's voice address their host.

Phaedrus slowly opened the door and took stock of the men standing outside. The one who appeared to the 'brains' of the outfit was a short, balding man. The pair standing behind him looked to be the 'muscle.'

"Can I help you?" he asked trying to sound surprised and somewhat puzzled by the intrusion.

The short balding man reached in his coat pocket and pulled out a picture. "Yes, we're looking for this boy," he said in a greasy tone that Phaedrus guessed was meant to sound like genuine concern for the child's welfare.

Phaedrus looked down at the picture. It was indisputably a picture of Harry but he didn't allow recognition to break up his appearance of confusion. Shaking his head he answered, "No, I'm sorry."

During this time, Phaedrus had only opened the door wide enough for the men to be able to see him and not the inside of his cabin. As he was speaking with the 'brains', the 'muscle' were trying to see past him and he could tell he was going to have trouble with them if they wanted inside and he didn't comply

Pettigrew looked down, a bit disappointed but he felt suspicious of this man. Each resident of the nearest town answered the door with a German greeting but this man answered in English as if he knew who they really were. Taking out another picture, he exhibited a picture of Severus this time. "I see. How about this man?" He continued in the same greasy tone with a forced smile on his face that Phaedrus supposed was meant to mimic a worried parent sorry to have to trouble anyone about affairs concerning his child.

The werewolf looked over the new picture. "No, I haven't seen him either," he answered.

Pettigrew nodded as if he wasn't surprised that Phaedrus didn't recognize either of his prey but something about this man unsettled him. Almost everyone in the town had at least asked why they were looking for the boy and the man and he had given the same answer to each muggle. He had concocted a story that Severus had kidnapped Harry and he, Pettigrew, was the boy's uncle and only remaining relative and trying desperately to recover him to safety. This man, however, didn't seem interested at all. It was almost as if he knew Snape posed no threat to the boy.

Nodding again, Pettigrew decided to take another approach. "I'm sorry to have bothered you, Sir."

Phaedrus hoped that the men were now planning to leave. "No trouble at all," he said, starting to shut the door.

But before Phaedrus could close the door, Pettigrew shoved his foot between it and its frame and for a brief moment, the fake expression on his face contorted into a scowl. Phaedrus caught the look just before Pettigrew again plastered the fake smile on his face. "It was a very long walk from the town and we were hoping that we could rest for a bit," he explained in an obvious ploy to get inside the cottage.

Phaedrus sighed then arranged his own features into a fake smile. "Of course," he said as he opened the door. He knew that the men would probably come in by force if they had to and if he let them in and Harry and Severus were nowhere to be found, they would probably leave without further incident.

In the back of his mind, he worried about his two charges cooped up in that small space. He hoped the men would leave soon.

Severus' heart skipped a beat when he heard Pettigrew's voice enter the cabin. What was Phaedrus thinking? He knew that the werewolf didn't really know these men and what they were capable of but he did know that these were the men that had kidnapped Harry and therefore, he must know that they were dangerous.

Harry subconsciously clutched the sleeve of the clean shirt that Phaedrus had put on Severus after the previous night.

Severus put a hand over the Harry's hand hoping that it would be a comfort to the boy and inwardly knowing that it was as much to comfort to him.

He was glad that it was too dark in the space for Harry to see the look that haunted his eyes. This situation was causing him to flash back to his days as a spy. Only in those days, he was the one in Phaedrus' place, protecting victims of Death Eaters.

Phaedrus allowed the men inside. "Would you like something to drink?" he asked, eager for an excuse to leave the room.

Pettigrew gave phony gracious smile. "Yes, that would be lovely," he said knowing that while their host was away it would give them a chance to poke around.

Phaedrus went to the kitchen, leaving the men to find their own sitting arrangements.

Pettigrew, Crabb, and Goyle immediately started their search. A quick survey told them that the defector and the brat were not in the main room with the bed and fireplace. But something seemed out of place. The short, rat-like man's nose twitched when he saw the couch on the opposite side of the room as the bed. It looked like someone was using it as a cot but the only person here was that man.

Looking back at Crabb and Goyle, Pettigrew pointed at the couch and whispered, "You two stay here. There's someone else here."

The two thugs nodded, taking his meaning. For the first time since they had encountered the owner of this house, their lips curled into malicious smiles.

Pettigrew left his accomplices and followed after his host to the kitchen.

The thin man was standing over the sink, filling three cups with water.

"So, do you live here alone?" Pettigrew asked. If the man's answer was yes, he would know that he had harbored or was possibly still harboring Snape and Potter.

Phaedrus' mind was occupied on getting the intruders out of this home. He had completely forgotten the state of the main room. "Yes, just me," he answered.

Pettigrew's fake kind smile dissolved into a very real triumphant smile. "I was just wondering because you have a bed out there but your couch is also made up as a bed for someone else."

Phaedrus faltered. How could he have been so stupid as to forget that?

"I'll just ask you one more time. Have you seen the boy?" he asked, all kindness in his voice was gone.

Inside the pantry, Severus' heart almost stopped when he heard Pettigrew's demand. He knew. If the werewolf gave them away, they were through. Voldemort would probably kill Harry on the spot not wanting to risk another escape.

Severus realized for the first time that he was more concerned for Harry for Harry's sake than for his role as protector of the world from the Dark Lord.

The teen's heart was now beating at double speed. Pettigrew would kill Phaedrus if he didn't tell that traitor where he and Severus were but he would kill Severus if Phaedrus did tell him then take him back to Voldemort to be killed. Someone was going to die and it was because of him.

Severus felt Harry tense up and he could guess why. Despite his lack of affection toward Phaedrus, he didn't want to be the cause of the man's imminent death if he chose not to cooperate with Pettigrew.

Thinking back on the many times he had hidden refugees from Voldemort, he felt something growing in him that he hadn't expected before. He almost felt like he respected the werewolf who was now in the same position he had been in many times before. Fortunately, his disloyalty had gone undiscovered until now.

But it wasn't just this similarity that bothered him. When he had joined Voldemort, he had endangered the lives of others just like when Phaedrus became a werewolf. The difference being, that he, Severus, had chosen that way of life and Phaedrus didn't have a choice.

This realization ensnared him back into a memory that he had hoped to forget one day.

He remembered returning to Dumbledore the night he had finally decided to leave the Dark Lord's services. He had only wanted to die but he had one thing to do first. He had been included in a plot to kill the Potters; James, Lily, and young Harry who had only recently been born. He had to tell Dumbledore before he killed himself. Dumbledore was the only person he could trust to keep them safe.

The night was a late autumn night. It had been raining and Severus had been soaked through to the skin when he entered his old professor's office. Even then, Dumbledore had been the headmaster of Hogwarts.

The elderly wizard had shown him in, happy to see him after so many months of no contact. Severus had refused to endanger this man by contacting him while he served Voledemort.

Severus had barely been able to confess what he had become. As soon as the words had been uttered, he expected an enraged reproof from this usually so well-tempered man. Instead, Dumbledore had actually embraced him.

Out of shame, Severus had pulled away. He had never really gotten over the look of pain in Dumbledore's eyes after he had done so.

After he had told the man what was planned for the Potters, he turned to leave. He hadn't announced his intentions of ending his life to his old keeper but the way that the man had grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving made him think that Dumbledore had known.

His guardian had held onto his arm with the strength of a young man, refusing to let him go. Severus couldn't force himself to pull away.

Dumbledore had pulled him close to the fire and explained to Severus how he could help the Order of the Phoenix. How he could undo the awful things he had done. Even now Severus didn't know if Dumbledore really felt he needed to make up for his past mistakes or only wanted to give him a sense of purpose and a motivation to live.

Harry's grip on his shirt tightened, pulling him out of his memory. Severus followed suit by securing his grip on Harry's hand to steady the teenager.

All either of them could do was wait and hope that Phaedrus would be all right.

Phaedrus turned to face the man. He couldn't let Harry and Severus be found. "As I told you before, no I haven't seen them," he said rudely.

Pettigrew's smile widened. He had only asked if he had seen the boy. Now he knew that Snape and Potter were without doubt traveling together. "Crabb, Goyle, get in here," he shouted back at the men who had lingered in the other room, still searching for their two quarries. He hoped that they were still here but at least he knew they wouldn't be far away.

Crabb and Goyle entered the room, both looked wickedly at Phaedrus.

The werewolf dropped the cup of water that he had been filling and started to back away from the men but either Crabb or Goyle, he didn't know which, grabbed him and pinned his arms behind his back.

Pettigrew grabbed Phaedrus by the neck with his silver hand. The werewolf saw the unnatural coloration a second before it closed around his neck. Who were these people?

"Don't make it hard on yourself," Pettigrew spat with a tone that suggested he wanted nothing more than for Phaedrus to make it very difficult for himself.

"I told you, I haven't seen them," he rasped through the clenched fist.

"Crabb, tear the place apart and find them!" came the man's reply.

Phaedrus saw the other man head straight for the pantry which held Severus and Harry. He didn't breathe as he watched the man search. He could only pray that the man wouldn't think to look for any crawl space behind the pantry.

Pettigrew waited before Crabb gave up his search in the closet then turned his attention back to Phaedrus as Crabb started rummaging through cabinets. He removed his silver fist from the man's neck then brought it crashing into the man's stomach.

Phaedrus instinctively wanted to double over from the pain but Goyle held him in place.

He took a few gasps of air before the next blow came, this time to his jaw.

Pettigrew was getting angrier and angrier each time Crabb came up empty handed. It was he that would be facing Voldemort's wrath. He was going to find Snape and Potter or die trying.

"Where are they?!" Pettigrew demanded delivering another blow to Phaedrus' head.

The werewolf's head snapped to the side with the strike. "I- I don't know," he stuttered. He could taste blood in his mouth as he spoke.

Pettigrew pulled the man up by his hair, forcing Phaedrus to look at him. A black eye was already starting to form from the last hit.

Crabb had torn the place apart and still yielded no Snape or Potter. They couldn't still be here. There was no where else to hide in the cabin.

"How long were they here?" he asked, resigning himself to the fact that they were no longer there.

Phaedrus didn't answer. He thought that if he still looked like he was resisting, there would be a better chance that the men would believe him than if he readily gave them their answers.

Another blow came to the side of his head. This time his vision blurred. The man who was interrogating him, asked again. "How long?"

Phaedrus must have hesitated too long before answering because he felt a strike against his cheek. "A c- couple of days," he stammered.

Pettigrew smirked. Finally he was getting somewhere. "Where did they go?"

Phaedrus swallowed and didn't answer. Again, he didn't want to sound too eager to give him answers. He needed his resistance to seem real.

A punch to the jaw split his lip. With blood running down his chin, he did his best to focus on the man tormenting him. He had no idea which way Harry and Severus intended to go from there so he had to give his best guess as to where they weren't heading. "I don't know where they're going," he said.

"Which direction did they go?" Pettigrew questioned snidely.

"West, I think," Phaedrus lied. They spoke English so he assumed they would be heading toward England which was east of his home. He hoped that he was right.

Pettigrew's eyes narrowed. Heading west didn't make sense. Hogwarts was the other way. Then again, being here didn't make sense if they were heading back to Hogwarts either.

The short man then reached into another coat pocket and pulled out what looked like to Phaedrus, a twig, then to Phaedrus' shock, actually pointed it at him. The look that the man was giving Phaedrus told him that he should fear this more than the beating but the werewolf couldn't imagine what he was planning on doing with it other than stabbing him.

The stick was then lifted into the air as if the man was going to throw it. Pettigrew opened his mouth and started to utter a phrase that Phaedrus didn't understand when suddenly he dropped the stick and doubled over in pain. He was grasping at his left forearm in the same spot where Severus had a tattoo. Then he felt himself freed from Goyle's clutch and fell to the floor.

All three men were grasping their forearms in the same location and all three looked like they were in a great deal of pain.

Phaedrus was still too dazed from the beating to do anything but lie on the floor and watch the unusual scene before him. He saw the man who had tortured him before, reach down for the stick and try to do again what he had tried to before but it looked like another wave of pain hit him.

"Forget him! His time will come soon enough." he heard Goyle say from behind. "Let's just get back!"

It seemed that the short man couldn't deal with as much pain as he dealt out because he picked up the stick again and the three ran out of his cabin.

Phaedrus got to his feet as quickly as he could and went to a window to see which direction the men went. By the time he made it to the window, he was just in time to see the three all point sticks at themselves then to his amazement, they disappeared into thin air.

Phaedrus, already weak from the beating, fell to the floor in shock. He couldn't believe what he had just seen.

Severus had practically stopped breathing in an effort to hear what was going on. He had his ear pressed against the removable wall but all noise had stopped.

Harry kept unconsciously tightening his grip on his professor with each passing minute.

Suddenly Harry felt Severus tense up and remove that hand that was covering his. He could feel Severus grab his forearm and heard the man suck in a sharp intake of air.

Phaedrus remained on the floor, not believing what he had just seen. People didn't just vanish into thin air. He brought his finger to his lip. He looked at it for a second just to verify there was blood. He hadn't just imagined it.

He looked back at the pantry. He gently pushed himself up. The pain from the beating was still fresh but he couldn't leave Severus and Harry in the storage area for much longer.

He felt dizzy once he had gotten to his feet. He used the counter top to steady himself before walking to the pantry. Once there, he dropped to his knees and started removing contents to clear the way to the removable wall.

Finally everything was out of the way and he opened the door, flooding the area with light. The first thing he saw was Severus clutching his arm in the same place where the three men had, the same place where his tattoo was.

Severus' head was ducked down, diverting his eyes from the light but Phaedrus could tell his face was contorted in pain.

Phaedrus grabbed Severus' upper arm and pulled him out into the kitchen. He remained on the floor, clutching his arm protectively.

Harry crawled out after the middle aged wizard and immediately scuttled to his side knowing that there was nothing he could do to relieve the man.

Phaedrus slid to the man's other side. Ignorant of the cause of Severus' pain, he pulled Severus' hand away from the source of pain then rolled the sleeve out of the way. The man's tattoo was actually glowing. Phaedrus stared at it for a moment before going to the sink and pouring some water onto cloth by the sink. Returning, he wrapped the cloth around Severus' forearm, covering the tattoo but it didn't seem to help at all.

Harry grasped the hand attached to the arm with the mark. He knew from experience not to touch the mark itself.

Gradually Severus started to relax as the pain died away. He opened his eyes and looked at Harry. The boy was looking down at his arm. Turning to Phaedrus, he noticed the werewolf's condition for the first time.

"What happened?" he asked hoarsely.

Phaedrus shrugged his shoulders. "They asked me if I had seen you and I said no."

Severus nodded, pushing himself into a sitting position on the kitchen floor.

Harry let go of his hand then looked up at Phaedrus then looked away guiltily.

"Thank you," Severus said so sincerely that Harry was taken aback. Here were two words that he had never heard from Professor Snape.

Phaedrus looked down.

"Where did they go?" Severus continued his questioning.

The question reminded Phaedrus of what he had seen. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he said.

Harry and Severus shot each other a look then turned back to Phaedrus. "Try us," Severus prodded.

Author's Note: There, now, that wasn't too long was it? Hope you guys liked the chapter. Thanks to all those who reviewed!