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Airiala glared at Lucius, his wand at Severus' throat. He looked disheveled and dirty, as if he had been living in the woods since the battle.

She kept her eyes fixed on Lucius and his want. One wrong move here and Lucius could kill Severus. She really didn't think that she could survive that.

"Now," Lucius said calmly, "here is what we are going to do. You are going to come with me and we are going to finish what the Dark Lord started. You will use your power to assist me in all things." She didn't miss the leer in his eyes at that, her skin crawled at the thought. "In exchange I will let Severus live."

Airiala flicked her eyes to Severus, who was standing quite still, as if understanding the danger he was in right now. She looked back at Lucius.

"And if I refuse, you'll kill him?"

Lucius smirked. "Fair deal to me since you destroyed the Dark Lord. In addition to that my son was captured. You're lucky I didn't just kill him as revenge for that alone."

Airiala didn't think any of this sounded fair, but when was anything fair in this world. She wasn't about to argue, not with Severus' life on the line. Her hands were tied and Lucius knew it.

"I will go with you," she said.

Severus looked at Airiala was crazy. She couldn't do this, not for him. She should just attack Lucius regardless of the wand at his throat.

Lucius smirked. "Excellent."

"I have one demand in this exchange," she said firmly. "I want a wizard's oath that you or any of your followers ever attempt to harm or kill Severus Snape. If he becomes injured or dies, I am free."

Lucius sighed. "Very well. I swear a wizard's oath that I, nor any of my followers, shall harm or kill Severus Snape."

She watched as the magic swirled around him before disappearing, showing that the oath was sealed. Lucius tossed Severus aside and grabbed Airiala's arm.

She looked back at Severus, who had just gotten to his knees from the push. Their eyes connected for a moment.

"Severus Snape, I..."

Severus never heard the rest as suddenly Lucius and Airiala vanished with a pop. He jumped up but was too late as the two were gone. It was impossible to apparate on or off Hogwarts grounds. Severus couldn't think of any way Lucius would have been able to do so. He didn't have a port-key so it must have been some other way.

Severus didn't dwell on it for too long. Airiala was gone and that was what mattered most. What had she been about to say to him? He felt that it was the most important thing she would ever say, and yet he didn't know why he felt that way.

The pull of the magic Lucius had used to taker our away from Hogwarts was such that Airiala didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence before they landed in a place Airiala hadn't ever seen before.

Lucius didn't release her as he pulled her along as he walked. "We have work to do," he said firmly.

Airiala took a deep breath. Her attempt to stop Lucius before it got his far had failed. He couldn't use her if she was dead and confessing to Severus that she loved him and being rejected would do that. It would have stopped all of Lucius' plans.

But she didn't have a chance to say it and now she was at Lucius' mercy.

She hoped on some level that Severus and her fellow Elementals would come for her, but she also hoped that they didn't.

She didn't want Severus or the other Elementals to be put into any danger because of her. She would have to get out of this on her own.

Enlisting the help of the other Elementals was easy. Raina, Pyro and Lando were all on board to save Airiala.

They headed out after Severus had explained the situation to Dumbledore. Dumbledore examined the magical barrier around the castle and found that it had weakened, perhaps as a result of the battle before. He reinforced it to prevent such a thing from happening again.

The four set out that very night.

Raina was worried. Pyro could see it in her eyes. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her close as they walked.

"She'll be alright," he said to her softly. "By the end of all this we may finally see the two of them together."

Raina chuckled softly at that. "I hope so. They belong together."

Pyro smiled at Raina as they followed Severus down the path he was traveling through the Forbidden Forest. They had to get off Hogwarts' grounds in order to travel by magic.

Together, the four of them started their quest to find Airiala and Lucius.

Severus stated them at the normal hangout spots of the former Deatheaters, thinking that Lucius would go somewhere familiar. Most were empty and abandoned, a few had some rogue Deatheaters hiding out that were easily taken out by Severus and the Elementals before being turned over to the Ministry.

It took them a week to inspect all the places Severus thought Lucius might be hiding thoroughly, but they found no evidence of Lucius or Airiala or even where they might have gone. Then they started thinking outside the box and searching other places, less likely places that Lucius might have thought would work for hiding.

Lando could see the strain this was taking on Severus. It was worse than it was on Lando of the others. Severus didn't sleep well, if at all, and was constantly grumbling to himself as each day passed and there was no sign of Airiala.

They stopped at a muggle motel one night to sleep after almost 2 weeks of searching. Severus wanted to keep moving, there was no way that was going to work when he kept nearly falling over when he walked.

Lando got two rooms, one for Pyro and Raina and one for him and Severus. That man was going to sleep tonight even if it killed Lando.

"You need to sleep," Lando said firmly, pushing the older man to the bed. "You will be of no use to rescue Airiala if you aren't well rested."

Severus laid on the bed but found that he had no desire to sleep. "I should be out looking for her, not sleeping."

Lando sighed. "You have to sleep." He stepped over and sat on the second bed in the room, facing Severus. "Listen, we're worried about her too. She is our friend and we would do anything to protect her, to save her. Just like she would do for us. But we understand that we need to sleep."

Severus sighed and closed his eyes, not bothering to remove any of his clothes or shoes. "I just wish I knew what she was going to say before Lucius took her."

Lando narrowed his eyes. He hadn't heard this part of the story. "What are you talking about?"

Lando didn't get a response as Severus drifted off into a deep sleep that he needed more than Lando had realized. Once he was sure that the man was truly asleep did Lando hurry next door to Pyro and Raina's room.

He knocked and the door opened immediately, as if they were expecting him. Lando walked in and looked at the other two Elementals.

"Is he asleep, finally?"

Lando nodded. "Didn't take much. He was more tired than we thought. I did find out something interesting though. Apparently Airiala attempted to tell Severus something before she was taken, but Severus didn't know what it could be."

"You think it was the Ultimate Truth?" Raina asked.

Lando shrugged as he took a seat at the desk chair. "It's possible. If she thought that she would be a danger to Severus or others then I'm sure Airiala would reveal it thinking that Severus would reject her like the Air Elementals before her had been."

Pyro sat next to Raina on the bed. "Doesn't she know that Severus loves her?"

Riana shook her head. "She believes that he doesn't. It's the whole reason why she wasn't going to say anything to him before. Even if we tried to tell her otherwise she wouldn't believe us."

"This is all my fault," Lando said. "I tried to drive a wedge between them to make Airiala mind. It was only after I learned the Ultimate Truth that I could see how stupid I had been."

Raina nodded. "We've all changed in some way since learning the Ultimate Truth. It's not like before. I have to believe that it's because the two of them actually love each other that it's like this."

Pyro held Raina close. "I agree. There is no way that Airiala would still be alive if Severus didn't love her."

"That last night that Airiala spend in the Hospital Ward was the first time I saw how Severus felt about her. He knelt down and whispered something to her and then, the next day, she woke up. Is it possible that because he didn't respond before when the Truth was first spoken that she went into a light coma waiting for a response? And then he gave her one, possibly not even knowing that he was doing so?"

Raina and Pyro looked at each other. It was true that Airiala had passed out after the battle. It was in such a way that they had worried that she wouldn't ever awaken. It wasn't until their memories started to really come in regarding the Ultimate Truth that they started noticing things were different from before.

Was it possible? Could Severus have responded to Airiala's confession unknowingly?

Lando yawned. They had been searching for 2 weeks straight and now all this speculation on the relationship between Airiala and Severus, it was too much.

"I'm going to bed," Lando said as he stood. " We still have to find Airiala. I'm sure that Severus will be up at the crack of dawn to get started again."

The two other Elementals nodded and Lando headed back to his room. All three went to bed and passed out into sleep.

Airiala had done well to help Lucius and, as a reward, he hadn't touched her. Airiala was relieved at that.

He was gaining momentum and followers, but he kept his oath. Severus was not brought up in attack strategies and was not mentioned in anyway. That was also a relief to her.

She leaned up against a nearby tree and looked up at the stars. She hoped that Severus was safe at Hogwarts and was making preparations for any attack Lucius might wish to send their way.

She closed her eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep, her last thoughts on Severus.