*enters with Snape, sits in the armchair, Snape goes to fix himself an amaretto with orange, for starters* Hello, hello again! I am glad to see from your reviews that you are happy again regarding Snape's fate. *chuckles, Snape sits down hautily* The Potions Master has a high survival instinct, he wouldn't collaborate with me if I was to kill him off so … easily. Mwa hah.

So, without anymore dilly-dally, let's get the show on the run!

Chapter 9, *hit play*

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            The new minister of magic received his mail (the contents only, no envelopes) from his assistant, and leafed through it. Bagman sighed, leaning back in his chair and tempted to put his heels on the desk. He was utterly bored in his new position, even if he basked in the status it gave him. Bagman was always one for adrenaline rushes- the reason he was so addicted to gambling. But he was not allowed to even play a round of ordinary cards, not now that he had a reputation to keep as Minister. He did not like the fact that his liberty had been somewhat restricted, but it was a small price to pay for his life and career: he owed the one that had paid off his debts and placed him in this position of power. Not power for me only though, as the things have come to be, he thought bemusedly, discarding parchment of no interest to him or leaving other documents on the desk for when he would dredge up the patience to look into the claims or petitions that were made to him.

            Then another letter made him sit up as if the sender himself was present. He swallowed and glanced at the door many times, then drew out his wand and spoke the password. The words of a mundane report of research on the benefits of gnome training for gardening reassembled themselves, and the true message of the letter was revealed. Bagman read his instructions carefully. He bit his lip in distress; he did not want to cause harm to anyone, much less if it involved minors. Especially now that one of their professors is dead and they are all under shock. Damn.

But Ludo Bagman had to follow orders, or the Goblins would remember that it was not he that had settled his debts- and Ludo hated violence, even more so when it was directed to him.

He pulled out a sheet of parchment, wrote down the orders and signed and verified it with a resigned sigh. After all, it is not my responsibility; I am just a puppet in the game.

***

            Sombre had begun feeling cold, even if his fur protected him from the chill of early Spring and the cold breeze of the night. He had also begun to feel hungry- and the unfortunate lizard he had caught as it skulked past him on the branch he was on had only served to keep body and soul together. If Sombre had a sense of humour, he would have smirked. It seems my life on this earth has been a never-ending exercise on 'Inviting Death and Live to Tell the Tale'… even if in the form of starvation. It had been almost 48 hours he had spent on the branch. He wondered if Dumbledore or Lupin were worried at all; they shouldn't be, not too much, because they knew what he had set out to do. But it would please Sombre to know that even so, they would worry after him.

            The cat stretched on the branch, looked down at the slimy looking fly-trap plant, then around at the rest of the wilderness of that area of the Forbidden Forest, then resettled. He wrapped his tail around his legs and side and wished he would have been a long-haired cat. But no; I had to be a small-size Burmese. Lupin laughed when I told him what my animagus form was. He was expecting me to be a snake or a vulture or something. "It wouldn't fit his inherent desire to be both ferocious and presentable," was Albus' opinion. Apparently, I also do not have any inherent desire to keep warm.

            Sombre's thoughts were cut off as his feline hearing caught careful tiptoeing. The black cat opened his eyes and watched closely. Now the real part of his mission would begin. He watched the dark-cloaked figure walk closer, always checking, always watching for anything out of the ordinary; but a black cat with black eyes is very hard to discern at night, and so Sombre was not noticed on the branch. Not that you would suspect who I really am, I gather. As the figure drew nearer, Sombre saw that it was a woman. Almost no women that he knew of were of the potion-making level to be able to make anything worthy of a signature; almost. Sombre bristled. Damn Black and his blood-line. Always causing trouble. He waited for the woman to harvest her ingredient (the slime from the fly-trap plant).

Then, he silently dropped down from the tree and followed Bellatrix Lestrange.

***

            Harry walked into the room of Requirement and sighed. He didn't feel too energetic, or too optimistic about what he was doing. He had lost one of the people he could rely on the most; Snape's perseverance in doing what he promised was rivalled only by Dumbledore himself in Harry's book; Remus and Sirius a close second. Would the last two Marauders fill Snape's shoes? It didn't sound as easy a task as it sounded. Harry felt a knot in his throat again.

"Harry? We are all here," he heard Ginny's voice, low and scared. Harry fidgeted and cleared his throat, tapping his way further inside the room until he was in the middle of it.

"I'm sorry… I… I was slightly distracted. Okay. I have to tell you that the only reason I feel we should continue to do this, is because we owe it to Snape. He believed in us enough to give up his life so that we—I-- … I could live on. So we are in his debt, as wizards and individuals," Harry said quietly. He heard Blaise's breath be shaky, he heard Draco holding his, and the Weasley twins were far too quiet. Hermione was sniffling and he could hear Ron stroking her back. He couldn't tell what Ginny was doing.

"We agree with you, Harry. Now I have one more person to avenge," Blaise said in that emotionless voice that she used lately.

"I wouldn't be so syrupy about it, but I agree with the gist of what you say, Potter," Draco tried to keep up some of his old persona.

"We wouldn't be Weasleys if we didn't pay the bad guys back- with interest," George said. Harry smiled.

"I thought then, that we might want to intensify our studying. I feel that we will soon be called to prove Snape wasn't wrong to die for us."

"The Dark Lord was quite triumphant with Snape's death, even if you survived. His spirits and those of the Death Eaters are uplifted. We are supposed to wait another massive summons soon," Blaise said. Hermione asked, barely trying to cover her eagerness.

"What have you got in mind for us to do, Harry?"

"Well, I will continue teaching you what Snape taught me in duels: Speed and readiness and how not to lose it. But I figured that we would need some help in enhancing our creativity in combat."

The door of the room opened and everyone in the room gasped in alarm, since nobody else was expected- all except Harry. The Study Group saw with surprise the two adults that entered.

"Professor Lupin! Mr. Black!"

Sirius beamed at the group as Lupin smiled gently. Sirius raised up his hands and said in his roguish way:

"Hello class! Welcome to 'How to Combine Ugly Curses Class'!"

The Study Group laughed in relief- they all needed laughter so much after the past three weeks of grieving. Remus smiled placidly and started talking, while waving with his wand, to demonstrate:

"Usually, dark and light wizards stick to their sides, both in allegiances, which is good, as well as spells, which is…not so good."

"You see, they do not understand that it is not the charm that you will use that makes it dark or light- it is how you will use it. Even Wingardium Leviosa can become Dark if you use it to levitate a man 3000 feet in the air and then let him free-fall from that height," Sirius said, cracking his knuckles.

"However, you can use this fact to your advantage, because if you use both light and so-called dark spells in combination, you will be unpredictable," Remus said and faced Sirius with a smile that belied his older, Marauder self. Harry smiled to himself, feeling a slight sensation of warmth- he was not all alone; not yet. And he wouldn't fail Snape if he had a say in it.

***

            Sombre followed Bellatrix Lestrange as she weaved her way through the Forbidden Forest. He knew she would have to lead him to her lab, where she brewed the potions for the Dark Lord: the slime she had harvested needed to be processed and bottled within one hour from harvesting. I should have thought of Bella. But then again, she always preferred to leave the boring tasks to me. Snape had almost forgotten over the course of the last 15 years or so that Bellatrix had been just as good a potion brewer as he had. She had studied with him for the longest, even after Hogwarts. For some time, he had believed that they could have had something together. It all became apparent that such a possibility was inexistent when she met Lestrange and his creative, twisted little mind that had a penchant for sadism. She seemed to abandon her interest in the brewing arts and instead specialised in the art of causing pain to the point of madness- a skill he never actually conquered. I stand corrected, Bella. You have kept your touch at potions. Interesting signature.

            Bellatrix walked to an apparition point. Sombre blinked. If she disapparated, he would fail; he would have to wait another 15 days at least to get another chance. He didn't have the luxury. He lowered on the ground, then sprang up against her with almost a yowl. She fought him off with her wand, then waved it so that Sombre would be suspended opposite her. She peered at the cat that was pffft-ing and growling.

"Well well well, what have we here?" she smiled mirthlessly. Sombre made a show of his pointy teeth and wild expression as much as possible- he knew that Bellatrix's familiars never lasted long, and she was always looking for new unfortunate felines or snakes to toy with. He knew that a feisty black cat would be interesting enough to at least take along. Especially if the cat came from the Forbidden Forest.

"You seem to have come right on time, my sweet. Every witch needs a good, black cat with her," she cackled, almost, and putting Sombre in a body-bind, she disapparated with him.

***

            Dumbledore was worried. He looked at his DADA professor.

"There has been no word or message? Not even with apparating parchment?"

"None, Headmaster. But Severus warned us he might not send word at all until his mission is done."

"Yes, I know… I know…" Dumbledore paced, his brow furrowed. The discussion was dropped immediately though, as Sirius entered, holding up a crumpled parchment.

"I have really, really bad news," he said, slightly paler than usual.

"Let us have them," Dumbledore said and took the parchment from the the Unspeakable of the Order. He skimmed the text. He looked up sharply, and passed the parchment to Remus.

"Are you certain of this?"

"I'm afraid so. I don't know what that Bagman is thinking," Sirius growled.

"He isn't thinking, Sirius. He is only following orders."

"Assigning Inquisitors to prowl in Hogwarts- with license to shoot anything but Unforgivables to their judgement!? This is a school!" Remus said incredulously. Sirius was even grimmer.

"And guess what? The Inquisitors will be camouflaged with glamourie. We are not allowed to know their identity."

"Anyone can pose as one and roam the school freely this way! This is completely irrational, out of bounds! Voldemort will be doing cartwheels!" Remus still couldn't stomach even the idea.

"I think I wholly agree with you, Remus," Dumbledore said, his eyes flashing dangerously, plans and ideas forming in his mind.

 "And I think it's time we paid Minister Bagman a visit," Sirius said viciously.

"No, not yet. We have to find out certain details first," Dumbledore said. The other two wizards blinked.

"You will allow Inquisitors in the school?" Remus asked.

"Most of the students will be safe- and I trust you will be training adequately those that might be targets," Dumbledore said calmly. He smiled dangerously, knitting his hands. "Let's allow Tom to think he is ahead in the chess game… for now."

***

            Bellatrix apparated in a small house near Stonehenge. It was nondescript, and Sombre could bet that the wards around it would make it invisible even to squibs. Bellatrix went to an adjoining room. No doubt where she brews. The smell was telltale. She left the black cat under the body-bind for at least 2 hours: roughly the time needed to bottle and store the slime. Little harlot. I guess you enjoy your prioritizing. Indeed, when she emerged, she came to where she had thrown the furry bundle, and sat nearby. She stroked Sombre's fur and smiled.

"Nice kitty. I can feel you are special. I will own you from now on. I will call you Death."

Sombre would roll his eyes if he could or dared. Every single black animal you ever owned was named that. Merlin, woman, what happened to originality? Bellatrix grabbed Sombre by the scruff firmly, then let up the bodybind. Sombre obliged and struggled, managing to scratch her arm once. Bellatrix shook him until he thought his neck would break. He stopped thrashing, dazed.

"That's better, kitty. I will teach you obedience. I am good at teaching obedience," she chuckled to herself.

***

            Remus was hopping here and there, trying to catch a Cangapixie or two to show his 5th year DADA class, when he saw him. He forgot about the faun-coloured hopping pixies and ran to where Sombre was lying on his side. He looked pretty deceased.

"Damn it, haven't you already BEEN through this routine??" Remus asked the black cat worriedly, gathering him up in his arms. A faint mew indicated that Sombre was alive and somewhat conscious, but too weak to shift back to his normal state. Remus ran all the way to Dumbledore's office. Albus looked up and blinked.

"He's back!" he said and conjured up a man-sized cot for the cat. Remus laid Sombre on it, and Dumbledore spoke the charm that was needed. With a loud groan, Severus Snape appeared in place of the black Burmese, bruised and bloody, with eyes unfocused.

"Severus! Severus!" Remus called to him.

"Stop shouting… in my ear, Lupin," Snape said hoarsely and coughed.

The Headmaster and the DADA professor looked at each other happily. Albus smiled and pointed his wand, doing Poppy's work. It wasn't anything too hard for the Headmaster, after all: some broken ribs, some heavy bruising, a mild concussion and a vast array of welts and abrasions. The Potions Master sighed deeply, in relief and shut his eyes.

"What happened, Severus?"

"I became Mrs. Lestrange's pet for a day. I had to have sufficient excuse to play dead."

"She is the potion brewer! Now, when Sirius is back we can break the Fidelius and find Voldemort's lair…" Remus felt triumphant. He shook his head with a wry grin. "Bellatrix… we should have thought of her. Sirius should have."

"Black doesn't have enough long term memory for such a capacity, Lupin," Snape said, sitting up gingerly.

"Lie back down, Severus. You need to sleep and replenish your energy. You can't walk out of here as Severus Snape."

Snape arched an eyebrow.

"And why not? There is no need to keep the assumption I am dead anymore. We can pretend that I was being nursed back to health all this time in the utmost secrecy."

"I am afraid that some things have changed while you were away," Remus said cautiously. Dumbledore nodded and told Snape about the Ministry's latest decree.

"I think you can still be a wildcard in the game, Severus. Let's not allow Voldemort to know you are still alive or have him suspect of your… alias."

At Snape's nasty expression, the Headmaster added:

"Don't worry. Things are bound to escalate quickly. And a small black cat is many times not counted as a countable adversary."

It was only the thought that as Sombre, Snape would be able to protect Harry and Blaise and any other student more efficiently that kept Snape from exploding in anger. So late Thursday night, the small Burmese walked out of the Headmaster's office and towards the dungeons, tail high in the air, with such irritated airs that even Mrs. Norris kept her distance.

***

            It was Friday morning way too soon. Harry didn't feel that he was ready to attend a Potions class without Snape teaching it. However, with OWLs just around the corner now, no more lessons could be spared. He swallowed and tapped his way to the dungeons. He was going there far too early for the class, but he had his reasons. If I have some time alone before everyone is around, perhaps I will keep a better grip. He entered the classroom and stopped, inhaling deeply. Everything smelled as if the professor was still there, the atmosphere saturated with the smell of potions ingredients, the steam from wolfsbane that would waft from the professor's office still present- wait a minute.

There still was  wolfsbane potion fumes wafting from the office. Someone was brewing the draft – it was at its latest stages, with only a little time left to complete. Harry knew how every step of the brewing smelt; he had spent far too many evenings with Snape in this very classroom, doing exercises and mock-detentions to be mistaken. This was no smell that lingered like smoke does to a room. This was being produced. Now.

            As he walked quickly towards the office, he did the calculation quickly in his mind- it was a week before the full moon, and Remus would have to take his first dose tonight. Without knocking, he opened the door. Nothing was heard except the low bubbling of the potion in the cauldron.

"Professor?" Harry said, his voice trembling, his heart beating, wild with hope.

No answer. Harry nudged Sasha, and he looked around the room. There was nobody inside- except Sombre, Lupin's small black cat who was preening with care. Harry felt as if his heart broke again, and tears ran down his eyes as he broke the connection with Sasha. The colourful snake caressed his skin with her tongue.

"I'm sssssorry, Harry," she hissed.

Harry leaned against the doorframe from a while, trying to control his crying. The hope had been so unexpected, so welcome- and the disappointment so harsh that he couldn't contain it, the tears hot and bitter, the soundless sob forbidding him to speak. Finally, he made a sound as if he was in pain and hissed back to Sasha quietly, reserved.

"No Sasha. I am a fool. I just… I just hoped against all hope."

Sombre watched, amazed. He had never quite believed that Harry would grieve for him- that his soul would bleed so much over someone that never spoke a kind word, that never hugged or offered consolation. I never thought it would cost you so, Harry. He was ready to shift, to rectify the situation, but then more students walked in the room followed by Dumbledore, and the chance was lost.

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and that's that, for now! I hope you enjoyed. *gets her Tia Maria from Snape and sits back* Have you noticed it's going to get hairy… soon? *evil grin*

As for my reviewers:

Shorty C22: You think a cat can't be ferocious? *L* Have you ever owned a cat with an attitude like Snape's? I have… trust me, it suits him to be a cat. Besides, he's allergic to *dogs* *grin*

LoveChilde: yes, after this, it's over. HP-wise, I mean. But don't worry, I am not done yet ;)

Kateri1: yep, only Albus and Remus know. They wanted everyone else to act accordingly to Snape's alleged demise.

Jaimnysfire: *L* actually I was more in the lines of your real life pet ;)

Chantelli: *L* flying monkeys?? cool beans! And here you are, more to read.

Athena Keating-Thomas: I am flattered.

water drifter: I don't know where the end of this story will find him… but we will see!

Maximum Poofy-Pissed Off Queen: I am glad you liked!

Alena: When Harry finds out… it's gonna be… *evil grin* …interesting.

t.a.g.: Harry won't find out yet… and how Snape actually survived the AK is to be revealed.

PhoenixPadfoot89: how he can be animagus, or how is he alive?

Kemenran: You got yourself a deal regarding FC. Dumbledore will cover Snape's classes for now. Voldie won't like it that Snape is alive, I can tell you that. *L*

Wolfmoon: I don't actually plan on killing, but when I DO kill, it's because it's inevitable. I have had instances where every single c dies in a story- and others where everybody makes it. You really want Snape to die for real, then? Who do you think will get the axe, so far, assuming someone does? because I have NO clue if any c will place him/herself in a position I can't save him no matter what I do. ;)