"What did Snape tell you about the Dark Lord? What did he say about Dumbledore?"

Cassi probably couldn't have answered even if she wanted to - she had been in this dungeon for 72 hours now, and during that whole time she had not uttered a single syllable. Her lips were dry and chapped and probably fused together in her efforts to keep from betraying Snape, but so far she was succeeding. In the back of her mind she wondered if anyone was coming for her, or if she was going to die in this dungeon. The thought frightened her; if she had to die at the ripe old age of fourteen, a dungeon was not her location of choice. Not that she particularly wanted to die young in the first place. But what else could she do?

Confessing was not an option. Cassi knew that. She would much rather be tortured and die than be the reason for Snape's death. She would kill herself first.

However, her body was starting to betray her; she hadn't eaten in three days and her last drink of water had been at least twelve hours ago. Her constant tormentor hadn't left her alone for more than three hours at a time and tortured her in fourteen hour sessions. She suspected that Malfoy took an Endurance Potion, giving him the stamina necessary to interrogate her for so long. But the hours and the wounds inflicted by both curses and Malfoy's cane were taking their toll. Cassi knew her skin was starting to cling to her thin frame like in the pictures of war prisoners, and her hair and skin were filthy and caked with blood. She couldn't focus her thoughts for very long, and everything felt surreal. She fervently hoped that either someone would come for her very soon, or that she would be allowed to die very soon.

A stinging welt on her leg snapped her foggy attention back to her present state. "What did Snape tell you?" Malfoy hissed at her furiously. He had never been able to hide his frustration, but now he was losing control of it. The cane came down again, this time across her shoulder and neck. An angry red stripe appeared right on top of another one, and Cassi couldn't help but wince. The benefit of her dehydration was that it helped dull the pain; she couldn't muster the energy to be bothered by the blows.

Another half-hour continued in this manner, until finally Malfoy whirled away. "This isn't over, Renner," he snarled over his shoulder. "You'll regret ever having tried to keep quiet. You'll regret ever having laid your eyes on Snape before I'm done!" With that he was gone. I already do regret ever having laid my eyes on Snape, but not for the reason you think, you twisted, evil being, she mentally retorted. It's because of me that you even suspect him. If I'd never met him, he wouldn't be in danger. And neither would I.

Cassi knew Malfoy would be back soon. Her head lolled to the side as she finally let herself relax, as much as her sore muscles and burning skin would allow. Yes, she wanted out of this place. So much so that right now, death sounded as wonderful as rescue.

The flap of the tent was roughly shoved aside, and Lupin entered.

The other two men looked up sharply and watched as he tiredly sat at the table beside Sirius. Staring at the polished wood in front of him, he slowly nodded.

Snape and Sirius glanced at each other. Their camp was set up less than a mile away from Malfoy Manor, which Lupin had been probing with various spells and enchantments for the last four hours, trying desperately to learn whether Cassi was being held there. It was one of the first locations they had suspected, and in Snape's mind there had been little doubt that this was the place. But now they knew for sure. She was there. Cassi was less than a mile from them. She was close, and hopefully, she would last long enough to be rescued.

Snape dropped his gaze back to his hands, which lay calmly folded on the table. To his own amazement, he was incredibly collected right now. His omnipresent furious rage was not gone, just not so out of control as before. His presence of mind was back - and now he was starting to realize how hopeless this mission was.

First of all, they were three men trying to break into a fortified, alert home of a known Death Eater. That alone was crazy. Then, they were going to try to sneak in, rescue a hostage who was kept under lock and key and probably guarded, and sneak back out without being detected - or at least without being killed. This, of course, was assuming that said hostage was still alive and sane, which at this point was doubtful. Snape wasn't sure why she'd been kidnapped, but it was likely that Malfoy needed information about the Order and hoped to torture it out of Cassi. And Snape knew she would never willingly betray anyone...even him, despite the fact that he'd been so cold to her. He knew for a fact that Malfoy had learned next to nothing from her, even though she'd been held for three days now.

Three days. Snape wanted nothing more than to charge to Cassi's rescue, to rush in and fix this whole situation, to be the good guy in her life like he used to be. But he knew that one wrong step, one false move, and their plan would collapse around their ears. One or all of her would-be rescuers would be killed, and Cassi herself would most likely be tortured into insanity and then killed. And that would not happen while Snape was still in control of his senses. So he would wait. Wait and plan, and when the opportune moment came along, he would snap it up without a second thought.

"Sirius...what if she's dead?"

A quiet, pained voice brought Snape out of his thoughts. He looked up in surprise to see that Lupin's eyes were red and his hands were clenched together on the table. Sirius stared at him a moment in surprise, then replied smoothly, "She won't be, Remus, don't be such a pessimist-"

"Sirius, you know as well as I do that her chances of still being alive are almost nonexistent," Lupin stated simply. "She is almost certainly dead by now. What if that's true?" Sirius, clearly the optimist of the two, put a hand on Lupin's shoulder. "Don't think like that, it won't do anybody any good. We'll go and rescue her, and in a few days she'll be back to her happy, healthy self. You'll see, Remus."

Lupin stood from the table abruptly, startling both Sirius and Snape. "There is a high probability that she will never recover from whatever Malfoy has done to her," he retorted, "and everything that happens to her is my fault. Dumbledore put me in charge of the Order while he was gone, and I failed to protect the Order. If she has been tortured, if she has been killed, because of incompetence or irresponsibility on my part - I couldn't live with myself. What if she's dead?"

Snape was done. "Enough," he snarled as he stood. Lupin's gaze snapped to him, and Sirius looked back and forth between the two. Snape continued in a rough but subdued tone, "The kidnapping is not your fault. You are no more to blame for her capture than any of the rest of us - and some of us bear more blame than you. The Weasley twins, for instance. The three of them are supposedly inseparable companions and yet it took nearly six hours before they realized she was missing? If they had stayed by her, there would have been little to no chance of her having been taken. Mundungus Fletcher, too - if our suspicions are correct, and he was Confunded and used to capture Cassi, then he certainly bears a part of the blame. He always knew the risks of dealing with the characters he did, and sometimes he made mistakes. Let this one be upon his own head."

Snape slowly sat back down at the table, and Remus followed suit. Snape glanced at him. "And it was more my fault than yours, Remus," he said quietly. "I made a mistake where she was concerned, a terrible mistake...Cassi asked me to protect her. She...she respected me, and trusted me to be there for her. She asked me to keep her safe, and I told her that I would...and here we are, trying to find her and praying she's still alive." He looked Lupin in the eye. "If she is dead, it will be my fault. I will bear the consequences, whatever they be, for the opportunity to apologize to Cassi. I know she'll never forgive me, and she shouldn't - but I will show her by my actions that I still care for her."

Sirius and Remus stared at the man sitting across the table from them. He had once been cruel, once been honorless, once been a traitor. It was obvious to the two former Marauders that Snape was none of those things anymore. There was unspoken agreement among the three men that they would hold each other in slightly higher respect from now on.

A companionable silence fell over the table. Lupin was more composed now, and Snape had grown pensive...but Sirius just couldn't take the solemnity anymore. With a grin and an elbow to Lupin's arm, he asked casually, "So, do tell, Severus, are you and Cassi together, then? Because I just have to say that you make an adorable couple..."

Snape slowly looked up and stabbed Sirius with an unreadable look. "Black, I believe you may be the only person still alive who has ever used the term 'adorable' to describe me."

Sirius calmly looked right back. "Oh, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression that I thought you were adorable. Cassi brought it all with her. I'd ask you what it feels like to be referred to as adorable, but of course, I already know..."

This made Lupin crack an unwilling smile, and before anyone knew it, all three were laughing. Snape chuckled quietly, glad that there was some form of camaraderie within the group. Maybe it was a sign of good luck to come.

And they would need all the luck they could conjure, because tomorrow could be the last day any of them ever saw.