April 23, 2012
Author's Note: Thank you for following, favoriting and reviewing this story. It seems to attract new readers, and I do appreciate knowing that readers are interested in continuing with the story. This chapter contains a bit of sexual innuendo and more language warranting the M rating.

April 28, 2012
Addendum: I want to thank my Beta, AdrienneGracify, for reading and commenting on the chapter. I was just too impatient to wait for input before I posted my own edits on the 23rd. I'll be incorporating some of her suggestions meant for this chapter into upcoming chapters.

Minor edit, April 28th.

Previous Chapter

Snape took out a roll of parchment and unfurled it, glancing at it on occasion as he continued. "Your family sent me an untraceable missive, which explains that you will have no recollection of the identity of your family members and you will be unable to locate any addresses of their properties. You will only recall your childhood home, as it has an address known to public institutions, but magic wards prevent you from entering the property. Most memories of your past year have also been obliviated, but you will retain skills and spellwork gained during your homeschooling. You are now the only known Abbott in the wizarding world. Of course your father is still at large, but since his disappearance thirteen years ago, no one can truly say they know if he is alive. Such is the life of an Unspeakable."

"And his daughter," Hannah said with a resigned sigh. She tottered backwards.

"You look rather pale, Miss Abbott. Sit on the bed before you faint."

Chapter 6

Antonin lounged, arms crossed over his chest, against the grimy wall of the Hog's Head Inn's lodge corridor. His casual demeanor belied his effort to hear everything that was said and done through the open door of the room, where he had left Snape alone with the girl. He heard creaking springs and a plaintive groan from the wooden bed frame. The idea of Snape crawling on the bed after her made him see red.

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you Headmaster?" the girl asked, her voice cracking nervously.

Antonin heard the coverlet's rustling and the complaints of the box springs as she settled herself.

Snape gave a clipped answer: "No."

Antonin slipped across the open doorway to see what they were doing. Snape had turned away from the girl, and Antonin met the empty and chilling eyes of a man who had witnessed tragedies far greater than being disowned by one's relatives.

The professor whirled back to the girl, and Antonin's gaze drifted to the girl. She had her forehead cradled in her hands and rested her elbows on her knees, her trainer-shodden feet poised on the wooden rail surrounding the mattress.

"We must discuss your future at Hogwarts."

Antonin saw Hannah's pout when she looked up at the professor with small, sad eyes before she lowered her head again.

Snape made no move to comfort her. His squared shoulders were immobile as he continued, "You will be required to work for your room and board. That said, you will be rewarded for returning to Hogwarts in compliance with the decree of the Ministry of Magic. Your tuition fee has been waived."

Hannah raised her head slowly. Her lips were pursed together, and her wide eyes stared at her professor with incredulity. "It's not possible to work and keep up with my schoolwork! You can't be serious. I won't join the elf brigade to prepare meals or clean students' quarters while I'm meant to be studying!"

The headmaster cocked his head back to shake a length of hair out of his face. "The Dark Lord has been gracious enough to permit impoverished students to continue their schooling. The line must be drawn somewhere. Half-bloods will not ride on the coat tails of the Pure-bloods who deserve the accommodations of this institution. Since you cannot pay your room and board, you will work for it."

"But there must be other students who cannot afford nine months of room and board. The Weasleys haven't even got lint in their moneybags!"

The professor growled, "It will behoove you to remember your place, Miss Abbott! The Weasleys are of a Pure-blood pedigree. I will not discuss the pecuniary status of other students with you. Suffice it to say that there is no other student who shares your predicament."

"I refuse," she retorted, jutting out her chin. "I'll leave Hogwarts before I ever work for my supper."

"Then you will run into some very nasty Snatchers, who delight in capturing fools that flaunt rebellion against the ministry." He sighed wearily, dropping his shoulders.

His change of countenance attracted her attention. Her eyes roved over the misery on his face and the fatigue in his bones. "Headmaster Snape, please tell me this entire scheme is a charade. Professor Sprout used to tell us that Hufflepuff and Slytherin are like peas in a pod. As long as we don't act like stuck up Gryffindor pigs, she assured us we could trust you like our own Head of House."

"More the pity that you believed her," Snape countered.

"You are not the evil man you pretend to be, Professor Snape! I didn't even believe the rumors that you had murdered Headmaster Dumbledore until the Daily Prophet ran an article announcing you had succeeded him by Wizard's Duel. I still think the story in the Prophet can't possibly be the whole truth."

He mocked her with cruel laughing. "I deceived everyone. Until that day, no one had a shred of proof to indict me of treachery. Oh, yes, they all had their doubts." He glanced behind him to see that Antonin was still watching their conversation. "I proved where my loyalties lay on the day I killed Albus Dumbledore. Never forget that I am a Death Eater, first and foremost."

"A Death Eater!" she snorted. "That does not frighten me anymore. Not after today."

There was a long pause. After the seconds became thoroughly awkward, Snape barked, "Explain yourself."

Hannah leaned across the bed and grabbed the snuffed-out cigar off the bed stand, putting her reckless ponytail and crumpled school robe in full view of Antonin until she straightened up. He leaned further into the doorway to watch her run the length of the stogie under her nose and breath in its mellow smell of damp earth.

Antonin was intrigued by the long cheroot running along her upper lip. He felt a yearning twitch, wishing she'd brush her lip along his own great length. He noted the flush on Snape's face after the man placed his cupped hands strategically over the front of his robe.

Hannah tucked the unlit cigar between her lips and hopped off the bed. Antonin hid himself once again, all the while envying the roll of wrapped tobacco grazed by her teeth and undoubtedly tasted with her tongue. Never looking to his station at the door, Hannah snatched the open bottle of vodka from the nightstand and poured a spot of vodka into her cold teacup. She transfigured the saucer into another dainty cup. Pouring significantly more into the second cup, she pushed it toward Snape.

She had to relinquish the cigar when she lifted the teacup to her lips. Snape lunged at her to stop her from drinking the vodka, but she downed the drink in one go, coughing and spluttering after swallowing the hard liquor.

Nudging the other teacup to him, she muttered, "Just so you know, he drank straight from the bottle. Backwash and spit, and all that."

Snape stiffened in repulsion. "Sharing hard spirits with a Death Eater is a far cry from bonds of trust and honor."

Hannah laughed idly at such trifling particulars. "I can still smell him. Smoke. Liquor. And wet wool."

She flounced on the bed. "Sweat makes his woolen robe smell like sheep after the rain, don't you think?"

With a poorly silenced guffaw, the Headmaster remarked, "I must apologize, then, for the offensive smell. It must have been a torture most heinous."

At the door Antonin bit his teeth to keep himself from cursing the man.

Hannah sat up straighter. "You misunderstood. It's a comforting smell. Mr. Dovelet was a perfect gentleman. He is trustworthy. Like you, Headmaster."

Snape roared with laughter. "You've been sipping at this cheap Muggle substitute for Amortentia. Here, finish this one off and it will clear your mind." The spirits sloshed onto the desk when he snatched up the second teacup and thrust it toward her. Taunting her and waving the cup under her nose, he snarled, "Go on. Drink up."

Vodka spilled onto her school robe when Snape pushed the cup to her mouth. She steadied the cup and swallowed what remained. Snape drew his hand back, and with neither of them holding the cup, the transfigured porcelain fell to the floor and shattered.

Breathing in long draughts of air to relieve the burning in her throat, she managed to wheeze, "Would you look at that. It didn't turn back into a saucer when it broke apart."

She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, stood to face the man towering before her, and kicked a delicate curve of the handle under the bed. With a fair bit of bravado, she tapped her pointer finger on the Headmaster's chest and mocked, "Oh ho! The big, bad Death Eater made me drink Firewhiskey!"

Snape grabbed her arm and drew his wand to her face. "Your leash just got shorter, Miss Abbott. Take care not to choke yourself when you run away with your tail between your legs."

"You won't hurt me," she declared triumphantly.

Antonin rushed Snape, wand pointed to the back of his head, and threatened between clenched teeth, "Let go of the girl, Severus."

Hannah raised on her tip toes to see past Snape's shoulder so she could beam a smile at Antonin. "He would never hurt a student. Well, maybe he'd do a number on Potter. He can't seem to stand the boy. But to the rest of us – he's as tame as you."

Snape shook the girl with both hands. "Foolish girl!" With spittle on his lips, he shouted at her, "Do you know why you feel safe with Mr. Dolohov? I'll tell you. You look like his wife! His dead wife. The woman who was killed by your hero, Albus Dumbledore."

Antonin stumbled backwards. It was the first he'd ever heard anyone explain who'd cast the curse that look the life of his beloved wife. Hannah turned away from Snape to search Dolohov's stricken face.

Snape swung his wand into her face to refocus her attention on him. "Yes, the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen was a murderer, too," he shouted in fury. "Aside from the Dark Lord, I alone saw how his unintended victim was struck down. Dumbledore, that meddling old coward, aimed to end the first Wizarding War with a single deadly curse. He might have succeeded if Aliz Wulff hadn't sacrificed herself." Snape lowered his voice. "She wasn't meant to die. Her final act as a Death Eater was to martyr herself and the child in her womb."

"Aliz!" Antonin whispered. He grabbed the first thing his hands could connect with and threw a wooden chair across the room. It hurtled into the hallway and crashed into a wall.

"Oy!" an alarmed voice sounded in the hall. "Fuckin'ell. Could kill a bloke!"

Hannah gave Antonin a sympathetic frown, which he met with a cold, angry grimace.

When Snape tapped Hannah under her chin with the tip of his wand, he forced her gaze back to him. "After that, your beloved Headmaster refused to duel again. The bastard was afraid of tarnishing his soul. You lot of dunces thought it would be darling to name yourselves Dumbledore's Army! Look at you now. You're as useless as he was!"

Aberforth Dumbledore rushed into the room. "What in Hell's skivvies in going on here, Severus?"

Snape, red faced, jugular vein throbbing, turned to pub owner. "Meet Hannah Abbott, your new barmaid. I'd send her to Rosmerta, but the girl needs a place to sleep at night and food to eat by day. Now then, this parchment contains her class schedule. Ideally, you'll excuse her from the pub to attend classes, but I'm not particular about this ... mongrel.

"As you have been told, seventh year students may visit the village freely, day or night. I'm sure you'll keep Miss Abbott busy when the lower years are visiting on weekends. The castle gates lock at nine and open at six. The Carrows will see to it that she is punished severely if ever she is caught inside the castle between those hours or discovered in the Great Hall during meals or feasts. Please give her accommodations fitting her attitude and effort.

"If she causes you any trouble, I suggest that you turn her over to your distinguished patrons for a spell. She'll likely heel after receiving the proper obedience training."

The brother of Albus perused the days and times on the parchment, then thrust the schedule into Hannah's hands. He coughed once before saying in his gruff voice, "With all due respect, Sir, the Hog's Head is hardly the place for a naïve chit like this one."

Severus said with scorn,"She doesn't seem to think that Death Eaters will harm her. As a matter of fact, she's perfectly content to be in the company of one Antonin Dolohov, here."

Antonin shoved the elderly Dumbledore brother aside and fisted the cloak at Snape's neck. "You sick fucker. She'll be lucky if she can still stand on her own two legs after one night here. She'll be shagged six ways to Sunday before the sun rises."

Snape wandlessly placed an innocuous hand-numbing hex on Antonin that forced him to let go of his robe. "Seeing that your swain Rowle isn't here, I won't stop you from having the first go with her. If she gets cold feet, the Snatchers are waiting with open arms. I think I hear Scabior and Fenrir's coarse tongues wagging at the bar this very moment. I'm not above scenting them on her trail."

Antonin tried to punch Snape but his hands were still too numb to form a proper fist and he ended up bitch-slapping the man instead.

"That's enough," Aberforth growled, pushing Antonin back.

Snape adjusted his robe. "Don't bother attending the start of term feast, Miss Abbott. Your luggage will be delivered to you later this evening."