"Crucio!" Amycus's wheezing laugh echoed through the halls as the young girl writhed on the ground. The young Hufflepuff had been caught smuggling food to one of her housemates in the dungeons. That student was still chained to the wall under guard by a few zealous Slytherins, but his hapless would-be saviour had been dragged by the Carrows upstairs to be tortured in full view of the castle.

Snape had heard the screaming from his office as they dragged her past. Alecto's wand rose again. "Crucio!" her rasping voice was lost in the fresh screams from the Hufflepuff on the flagstones. Amycus, watching with undisguised enjoyment, had his own wand out too, discouraging intervention from the group of students who had gathered, horrified, around the scene.

A door crashed open down the hall; Minerva sailed out, her hat askew, wand out, fury on her face. Amycus threw Snape a glance of ill-disguised fear, and jostled his sister, who stopped for a moment. The girl on the ground whimpered, and hugged her legs to her chest.

"ENOUGH!" Minerva thundered. Her eyes blazed as she took in the scene. "So help me, Alecto…" she trailed off, catching Snape's warning glare. A muscle in her jaw flexed. For a moment, he thought she might attack the Carrows and to hell with the consequences. Then, with a visible effort, she calmed herself.

The Death Eaters had flinched back under the force of her arrival; now, reassured, they cackled. "What are you going to do, Minerva? You can't do anything for the little mudblood, can you?" Amycus gave another wheezing laugh.

"She had it coming," Alecto sneered, "We'd given the other brat detention. She was going against strict instructions from the headmaster."

Minerva turned on Snape, eyes shooting fire. "Well, headmaster?" she asked, voice dripping scorn. "Are you content that this young woman's punishment has been sufficient given the serious nature of her infraction?"

There was a murmur among the watching students. Several had their wands out; Snape noticed a handful of Gryffindors murmuring to each other, and caught a glimpse of a Dumbledore's Army medallion being pulled from someone's robes. Things could get out of hand, here.

"Alecto, I think Miss. Hawthorne has learned her lesson, don't you?" Snape said coldly, his voice betraying no emotion. The Carrows were spoiling for a fight, but even they had finally caught on to the tension in the hallway. Amycus scoffed.

"I should hope so," he sputtered, eyes darting around at the hardened faces and drawn wands.

Alecto seemed less willing to give up. "I'm not sure, headmaster," she spat, throwing the prostrate Hufflepuff a venomous look. "I think she might need further punishment."

Snape saw his chance, and took it. "Very well then. Miss Hawthorne, detention, with me, tonight. Nine o'clock, don't you dare be late." He didn't so much as glance at the whimpering girl on the floor. Turning on his heel, he stalked back to his office.

He paused at the door, and looked back. Left behind, and badly outnumbered, the Carrows had finally conceded defeat. Minerva watched them skulk away, then, shooing the students back to class, she bent to help Hawthorne to the hospital wing.

She came to him when her class ended. "Once more, like that, Severus, and I swear I'll kill that sadistic hag," she exclaimed as she closed the door behind her. She collapsed into the chair before his desk. "They're children, we have a duty to protect them."

Snape met her gaze, and she softened when she saw the pain behind his eyes. He nodded, sharply. "I know. But there are bigger things at stake here." He ran a hand through his hair. "Amycus and Alecto are here because the Dark Lord knows they're bumbling idiots. If they were to be attacked, however, he might decide to take a more direct role."

Minerva swore. "Hogwarts cannot be held hostage, Severus." She shook her head. "This is too much. Torturing our children in the halls?"

Snape nodded again. "Miss Hawthorne will be sent home. Thus far I have been unable to get any students out of the castle myself, though I have shielded your own efforts from the Carrows, but now things are different."

Minerva looked up, surprised. "You knew about Pomona and Filius and I?"

Snape nodded. "I try to stay apprised of all the goings-on in the castle. Albus kept a network of discreet portraits."

Minerva narrowed her eyes. "Are you Fawkes?"

Snape permitted himself a narrow smile. "Perhaps."

Minerva rolled her eyes. "I swear, if Longbottom had asked me once more if I'm 'Fawkes' I should have had to turn him into a toad. The boy's insatiable." She raised an eyebrow. "I can't imagine he'd be terribly pleased to learn his informant is you."

Snape shrugged. "A necessary evil. Dumbledore's Army is the only force I have to call on. If I acted directly, everything we've built here would fall apart."

Minerva nodded. "Well, I can get Rebecca Hawthorne out in the usual way. All the more easily if I don't have to worry about alerting you. The Carrows are hardly the most attentive."

Snape grimaced. "I would worry more about their network of Slytherins."

Minerva nodded. "It's intolerable. Our own students turned against us. Some of those children used to be very kind, Severus."

Snape shrugged. "I pity them. The atmosphere in Slytherin is venomous right now. No one knows who to trust, Macnair and a handful of others are building gangs of their own."

Minerva sighed. "I know. But it's hard not to be angry."

Snape nodded. "Indeed."

Minerva sat back in her chair. "Well. We do what we can. I'll intercept Hawthorne on her way to detention this evening, shall I?"

Snape nodded. "Get her out quickly. That'll give me an excuse to go looking for her, too, which I can use to patrol the hallways, perhaps even get that other boy out of the dungeons to question him."

Minerva smiled. "We could nab him coming back from questioning."

Snape nodded. "Exactly. We can't evacuate the school; if the Dark Lord caught wind of that he'd send another dozen Death Eaters. The children are too valuable as potential hostages."

Minerva shrugged. "But a few here, a few there… who'll notice. Certainly not the Carrows."

Snape permitted himself a thin smile. "As you pointed out. They're hardly the most attentive."

Snape waited until the clock struck a quarter past nine to leave on his apparent search for Rebecca Hawthorne. He encountered Amycus muttering to a handful of upper-year Slytherins by the Great Hall.

"Headmaster!" he whined, when he saw Snape. He shooed the students away, and stepped closer. "I'd meant to talk to you. Regent says he saw your girl, Hawthorne, and that bitch McGonagall going up to the astronomy tower. I was just about to go up with some of the boys," he gestured at the receding backs of the Slytherins, "but this is better."

Snape ground his teeth, but there was little he could say. "Very well." He hesitated, then added, "If Minerva is there, we should collect Alecto."

Amycus giggled. "She's already on her way. She wouldn't miss a chance to rip that old bitch a new one."

Snape's jaw clenched. "Then we should hurry and go help her."

He fairly flew down the hall towards the tower, Amycus struggling to keep up. At the bottom of the stairs, he heard a crash from above, and a triumphant shout. Throwing caution to the winds, he leapt into the air, racing up the spiral staircase like a bat out of hell, leaving Amycus to struggle along on foot.

He found Alecto and Minerva facing off, wands drawn. To his relief, Hawthorne seemed to have already gone; a distant silhouette against the moon caught his eye, but Alecto seemed not to notice.

"Headmaster!" She screeched, grinning. She never took her wary eyes from Minerva's steady wand, but she threw out an arm in welcome. "Finally caught her in the act. The old bag's been smuggling kids out of the castle. She's gone too far now. Let's finish her off. One less Phoenix for the Dark Lord to kill, eh?"

Minerva was deathly calm, her wand never wavering from Alecto's face. Snape's mind raced. He could let Minerva defeat Alecto, and Amycus too, if he ever made it up the stairs, but she would have to flee the castle. That would be catastrophic for the Gryffindor students; it might lead to open revolt.

Only one other option. He pulled out his wand, and walked to stand next to Alecto. "Minerva," he said coldly. "Miss Hawthorne did not have my permission to leave the castle."

Minerva met his gaze calmly. "This has gone on long enough, Severus. I won't stand by while my students are tortured by your rabid dogs."

Amycus chose that moment to emerge from the tower, panting, but elated. He took in the situation, have a wheezing laugh, and hurled a curse at Minerva. She deflected it into the air, where it exploded in a noxious green cloud. Amycus flinched.

Alecto snarled. "I've been looking forward to this," she hissed. "Crucio!" She raised her wand with a flourish, then keeled over as Snape stunned her quietly behind her back. Amycus blinked, frowned, and flew back into the stairwell as Minerva's own stunner caught him in the chest.

Minerva crossed to Snape in two quick strides, and kissed him. For a moment, they stood there on the parapet, cinders from Amycus's deflected curse raining down like snow. Then, she pulled back. "Well, Severus? Now what?"

Snape grimaced. "I can't afford to lose you now." He hesitated, took her hand. "I couldn't do this alone, not again."

Minerva smiled wryly. "I wouldn't abandon you. Besides, if I left, Gryffindor would revolt."

Snape smiled thinly. "Quite." He turned to the Carrows. "Best this incident stay between you and I, then."

-

Alecto blinked awake. "Severus?"

He knelt in front of her, and met her beady eyes with his own cold stare. "You are a sickening, vile, horrible woman, Alecto, and a disgrace to your family and wizard-kind."

She stared at him blankly. Then, as her face contorted with fury, he raised his wand.

"Obliviate."