Disclaimer: All JKR's except for a couple of OCs.

"Professor Snape!" He was writing the weekend assignment on the board for his sixth year Defense Against the Dark Arts class when he saw Hughes waving a note for him.

"Ah, Mr. Hughes...are you thinking of joining this class?" Severus turned and fixed the student with a cold stare.

"Oh, no sir! Professor McGonagall asked me to give you this note, right away sir!"

"Well if you must, stop waving it like a snitch and hand it over. That is all, Hughes."

The boy escaped.

Severus,

Please come to my office at once. Barbara's parents have been killed

Minerva

He looked over his classroom. "That will be all. On Monday I also expect to receive 12 inches on why the hexes we studied this week are inappropriate when facing the unforgivable curses. In your best handwriting this time, please." He ran out before the sighs and groans could even start.

He ran to the Headmistress's office. Professor Merrill was sitting on a settee between the Headmistress and Chief Auror Monroe.

"Barbara."

She jumped off the couch and threw herself at him. He uncertainly put his arms around her and cradled her head on his shoulder.

"What brings the Chief Auror on this type of call?"

Monroe gave Severus a worried look. "It looks like avada kedavra was used on them. They had been cruciated." Barbara shuddered.

"That's something the Lestranges would do. They're dead, aren't they? Monroe?" His eyes met those of the auror. If they were not dead, Severus was a target. He was startled to realize that Monroe had already known that. Had already known and made arrangements.

"We never did find Rodolphus' body, and then there's Rabastan."

This was a blow. "Is there any indication that they knew Barbara and I were friends? Is this because of me?"

"No," said a teary voice against his chest. "Belatrix had reason to hate me on my own. She swore she would find a way to get even so now her husband is doing it for her. Why did I ever leave them in Basel? Why did I think they would be safe, now?"

"Let's not jump to any conclusions. We'll get the aurors working on this, Barbara" said Monroe. "Proudfoot and Simpson are already on their way over and we'll send a full team that will watch you constantly in Switzerland."

"What can I do?" asked Severus.

"Keep your head down, and I mean it," replied the auror. "You used to be able to go between the two worlds, but now that you're known as being on our side, the Death Eaters who have not yet been captured very likely want to kill you."

"I want to accompany Barbara when she goes to Switzerland."

"It's too dangerous. Have you heard what I said? You can't."

Barbara stood on her own feet and lifted her face. "He's right. It'll be all muggles, anyway. But I wouldn't mind if you came to see me off at the airport. Is that okay, sir?"

"We'll make it okay, although I still don't see why you have to take one of those airplanes."

"My parents' business associates will expect to meet me at the airport in London and to travel along with me on a company plane to Basel. It will just go much easier if I do things that way. I need to get ready. Minerva, I think the students will be fine to have a break from potions for a week while I'm gone. Most of them are actually a bit ahead of my lesson plans for this year. Will you walk me to the dungeon, Severus?" She wasn't very steady on her feet and not very sure that she would be able to see where she was going.

She was deciding between two muggle business suits when he decided to touch a sore subject. "Barbara, what happened with Bellatrix?"

"Why do you keep asking?" She saw something in his face that changed her mind. She sat in an easy chair. "You know about Kings Cross...it wasn't the only time we've met. The night Rufus was killed, they were looking for him everywhere. Bellatrix came to the potions dungeon, cruciating the mixers. She was doing it for fun. I drew my wand and her curse was drawn to me. I thought I would stop breathing, it hurt so badly but a rebounding charm I learned from Professor Flitwick in an advanced class came to mind which sent the cruciatus back on Bellatrix. She looked at me and was about to strike again, but then suddenly was called away. She told me that she would find a way to get me, no matter what."

"Do you draw spells to yourself like that as part of your special skill?"

"That's what Dumbledore told me."

"You must be pretty handy with a rebounding curse."

"Yeah, I suppose...look can we just drop it?"

He could tell that wasn't all, but the door was still shut and it wasn't a good time to push it.

"Severus, I hate thinking that my parents suffered what I suffered. I never told them exactly what was going on, just that I decided to take a sabbatical from the Ministry dungeon to work with them. People take sabbaticals in the muggle world all the time. I can't stand the thought that I let this happen."

He moved over to her chair and knelt down in front of her. "Don't think that way. I've come to realize that evil will find a way whether we help it or not. Let the aurors do their work. Let's find out what really happened before we come to any conclusions."

"Oh, hang it," she decided, "I'll just take both suits. Why not? What are shrinking charms for, anyway?"

He tipped her chin up so that he could see her eyes. "I need to go to my quarters and change. I'll be back in a few minutes and then we can floo to London. Will you be all right?"

She nodded. "Yes. I'll be done with this and changed when you get back. Thank you, Severus. You're a very sympathetic man."

Barbara arrived back at Hogwarts a week later. Kingsley Shacklebolt accompanied her to Severus' office.

"Severus? May we speak with you?" Shacklebolt was clearly not going to take no for an answer. Severus opened the door to let them in. Barbara was oddly subdued.

"Minister...? Please." He stood aside and let them in. When they were seated around his work table, Severus noticed that Barbara was looking around in embarrassment, everywhere except toward himself.

Kingsley cleared his throat. "Barbara has some secrets and it's become a problem. For the sake of several matters, I have advised her to be more forthcoming with you, and I have given her permission to speak about some matters that might be classified."

Both men looked at Barbara, who was wringing her hands and holding her mouth carefully shut.

Kingsley wasn't going to let it go. "You know about her experiences with Bellatrix Lestrange and that Bellatrix vowed to get even. It appears from evidence we found in Basel that the Lestrange brothers were still carrying that grudge. What she was not allowed to tell you and what is not known, Severus, is that Barbara was secretly trained and commissioned as an auror as part of a special program." Probing black eyes turned on brown ones, which blinked closed in...what?

Kingsley went on. "Very few people, one of them being Monroe, know about this. I asked her repeatedly to join the Order of the Phoenix, but she worried about her parents and we found other ways in which she was extremely useful.

"And furthermore, Severus," Kingsley was saying, "part of the reason I was happy to have her come to Hogwarts was to keep an eye on things here. We've known all along that you might be in danger and it was a nice fit to have an auror on staff. Now that we know that Barbara is an actual target, too, for whatever reason, Monroe has sent a couple of aurors to stay in town, at least until we figure out what's going on."

Severus stood and strode out the door and into the hallway. Kingsley followed. "Look," he said quietly, "it's obvious to me what's going on here. For what it's worth, she refused to give us any information about you except concerning your safety. She's very private, but you're clearly under her skin. Maybe more than she is under yours." Severus raised an eyebrown. "Go back in there. She just lost her parents. Comfort her." More loudly, so that Barbara could hear. "Well, I'll be off, then. See you, both."

Severus walked back into his office. Barbara was sitting on a sofa with her head over her knees. There was a lot to absorb, but he somehow wanted to soothe away her distress. He sat next to her and placed his arm around her shoulders.

"What was it like?"

"Not many people knew that I was being trained. There was a bit of a thing about people with muggle-born status having certain skills. After I was trained, it was my job to get the muggle-born and their family members to safe places. After our rescue, I got the others out and then finished up with my own parents. I had orders to stay away until I was contacted. I was supposed to come help in the event that there was a final all out battle...which I did. After the battle I was back and I was asked to go back into the potions dungeon and continue my observations of the staff.

"I thought that Switzerland would be safer for my parents...the war was over and they weren't in England...it was the only reason I left them. Otherwise, I would have moved them back here. They were enjoying themselves so much. It was like a second honeymoon to them. They lived there before I came along, you see..."

"I'm not very good at this, but I'm going to suggest that you remember how happy they were, how you had that wonderful time with them."

"I know." She sighed and took a deep breath and looked up at him. "Severus, can you forgive me for not telling you about the auror job? It was so unimportant in comparison to my other reasons for coming, really. This was always my dream. I didn't even know that Kingsley would want me to work here as an auror, too, until after."

He couldn't answer. There were so many issues there. Did the ministry really think that he was such a child, after everything he had done, by himself, for himself, for seventeen years? Would they ever really trust him? And Barbara...was she only kind to him because it was her job? Was he a fool for telling her so much about himself, for spending so much time with her, for--?"

"Severus." He saw her lips move but could barely hear her. He looked into her eyes and saw that she had opened the door to her mind.

"You don't have to do this just to prove something to me," he said. For the first time, tonight, her gaze never wavered and he found that he was being drawn within her thoughts.

He saw her watching himself as a student at Hogwarts, quite often...

Then he saw her learning occlumency from Dumbledore...

He saw her training as an auror...

He saw the night Rufus Scrimgeour was killed, the battle at Kings Cross with Bellatrix, hiding from the Lestranges in Paris, a laboratory in Switzerland...

He saw himself near the willow tree on the morning after the battle...

He saw her writing letters at her desk in the Ministry dungeon, looking at a newspaper picture of himself in her desk drawer...

He saw her arguing with Shacklebolt over her mission..."He's not a fool, Kingsley! Don't do this without telling him, first!"

He saw them both riding the train together...

He saw her parents' funeral...

He saw Barbara arguing with Shacklebolt again..."Kingsley, I can't tell him NOW. He'll think I've been fooling him, using him somehow..."

He saw himself again and something he didn't understand at all which startled him so much that he allowed his mind to be opened.

Gently, she probed his emotions, finding the misery of his childhood, the glory of classes, the acrimony of the dealings with his classmates, the horror of working for the Dark Lord, the relief of the end and through it all, Lily...smiling at him, cheering him, goading him, lighting his way. Finally, she saw herself, through concern and affection and a great deal of confusion.

With a small cry, she broke the connection, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"Hmm...well, thank you for your trust." He stood up. She looked up, uncertain. He smiled and took her hand, pulling her off the sofa and silently leading her to her own quarters.

He pulled her into his arms, holding her as he did when she had just learned about her parents. He put his lips to her hair and said, "Welcome home. Good night, Barbara." She wordlessly slipped inside.

He walked slowly back to the DADA professor quarters, wondering how he could possibly let her read his emotions so easily. His sleep was troubled that night, filled with dreams of her smiling with him, at Quiddich matches, in Hogsmeade, and in danger, sometimes on his behalf. He finally woke early in the morning and realized the meaning of the last impression he had when he read her mind. She saw her children in his eyes.

A/N: Thank you to my kind reviewers. This is a much better story because of you. Meanwhile, sorry if anyone finds this heavy on the melodrama.