Chapter Ten

After running what seemed like halfway around the island, Thaddeus and Remus broke out of a wooded thicket into an empty field that stretched out to a cliff overlooking the ocean. Remus pulled up short, staring around in confusion and trying to catch his breath. "Wait a minute, Thaddeus! I thought you said we were going to a cave."

Thaddeus stopped running and nodded, puffing slightly. "Yeah. We're almost there. The entrance is just over there." The boy pointed to a spot, seemingly no different from any other in the field near the edge of the cliff.

Remus stared at the waving grass and frowned. "I don't see anything…"

"No, you won't until you get really close to it. Lots of people find the cave by falling into it. From up here the entrance is just a hole in the ground. The other entrance looks more like a regular cave. It's down on the beach and goes into the side of the cliff, but it'll be underwater by now." The boy squinted out at the moving ocean. "In fact, most of the cave is probably flooded by now."

Remus didn't like the sound of that.

Noting Remus' grim expression, Thaddeus added, "The cave is sloped though. The top entrance will be okay for awhile longer, I think."

"All right. Point out just where this hole is, and then I want you to wait for me in the woods. These people are dangerous, and I don't want you to get hurt. If they've really abducted Mr. Snape in order to kill him, they won't hesitate to kill you and me, too, to cover up their crime."

Remus stared soberly at Thaddeus and spoke in an earnest tone. He needed the boy to understand the seriousness of their position and obey him, and he knew from personal experience how difficult it could be sometimes to get a boy, caught up in the adventure of the moment, to behave sensibly. But he needn't have worried. With eyes big as moons, Thaddeus nodded and pointed off to their left. "The opening to the cave is just in front of those big rocks. You won't be able to see it because of all the grass until you're right next to it."

Remus nodded. "I'll have to watch my step then. Now, you duck down behind the bushes and watch. If I run into trouble, don't try to help me! Just go for help as fast as you can. Are there Aurors on the island?"

"Yes, we have our own Ministry of Magic here. There's an office in each town."

"Okay. If anything goes wrong, head for the nearest office and bring anyone you can back with you. Tell them we think the abductors are escaped Death Eaters, but don't mention that Mr. Prince is really Severus Snape. Most of the wizarding world thinks Snape's dead, and we can't chance them not believing you."

Thaddeus swallowed hard but nodded his agreement. "I promise," he whispered eagerly.

Remus smiled at him and clapped him on the shoulder. "Good. Now duck down behind those bushes, and I'll try to find the entrance to the cave."

As the boy did as he was told, Remus began to pick his way carefully across the field, watching for the cave entrance. As he walked, he sharpened his hearing, straining to pick up the slightest hint of voices over the ever-present sounds of wind and waves. Just as he caught sight of the hole in the ground, he heard a snatch of sound that could only be a voice, and it definitely sounded as if it was coming from underground. Thaddeus was right. Although the entrance was a pretty large hole, from any distance it was virtually unnoticeable because of the tall grass that surrounded it.

Remus crept closer until he was crouched next to the hole itself. The sound of slightly echoing voices and the swish of churning water floated up to him on the ocean breeze. Only a few words were intelligible as the voices rose and fell like the tide. Even after listening carefully, he couldn't be sure how many voices he was hearing, though it was definitely more than one.

He realized that the only way he was going to be able to really tell what was going on down in the cave was to stick his head through the hole and see for himself. To minimize the risk of being spotted, he cast a Disillusionment spell on himself to help him blend in with his surroundings. That wouldn't make him any less solid, however, so he'd just have to hope that whoever was inside the cave was well occupied enough that they wouldn't notice when his body blocked out a substantial portion of the light filtering down through the hole. Nothing he could do but try, though, so clutching his wand tightly, he leaned down into the hole for a look around.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dimness and when they did, he was horrified at what he saw. A man crouched on the sloping floor of the cave, well above the rising water and held a glowing wand up to illuminate the scene in front of him. A second man, wand in hand, stood up to his hips in water as he taunted a third man, seated, who was tied to a rough spire of rock, leaning wearily against it while water swirled around him almost up to his chin.

Even from his position, dangling upside down partway through the hole, Remus immediately recognized the bound man as Severus. Though his hair was shorter than Remus had ever seen it, the turn of the man's head and the sharp angle of his pale shoulder against the rock pillar could belong to no one else. The man standing over his former lover with a wand and a surly sneer seemed vaguely familiar; Remus was pretty sure that he'd once been pointed out as being one of Voldemort's own.

As Remus shifted in order to bring his wand into a position where he could fire on the man standing in the water, a few pebbles fell down through the hole and clattered on the rocks below, drawing the attention of the nearer man. As the man turned to look, Remus pulled back out of the hole as quickly as he could, got to his feet, and ran for the tree line.

Once there, he dove into the bushes, pulling Thaddeus down with him, just as the man poked his head up out of the hole. As Remus and Thaddeus lay still under the cover of the thick brush, the man pulled himself out of the hole and sat on its edge looking around suspiciously.

A voice drifted up from below. "Do you see anything?"

The large man shook his head and glanced back down into the hole. "Naw. Must have been a bird or an animal. There's no one here."

"All right, then get back down here. Wouldn't want you to miss the main event."

The man chuckled nastily, slid back down into the hole and disappeared from sight.

As soon as the man vanished back underground, Remus turned to Thaddeus. "Go get the Aurors and bring them back as fast as you can. Those men have Mr. Snape tied to a spire of rock down there and they intend to kill him. I'll wait here. Go on! Hurry!"

Thaddeus jumped to his feet with a desperate nod and vanished into the undergrowth. As soon as the boy had gone, Remus got to his feet once more. Goodness knows how long it might take Thaddeus to bring backup, but time wasn't on Severus' side. He had to act now.

Without further thought, Remus ran back across the field and threw himself head first into the hole. Having previously judged the distance from the hole to the ledge, Remus had no difficulty landing easily and rolling himself up into a crouching position, wand extended. It only took him a moment to track his quarries. He knew they were there, after all, while his arrival took both of them by surprise.

His first shot hit Greene full in the face. The man fell like a stone statue with no more than a gasp of surprise. His wand, the only real illumination in the cave, fell into a tidal pool near his feet and its light vanished beneath the water. Remus swore under his breath at the sudden absence of light, realizing that even if Greene had been the closer Death Eater he probably would have done better to have taken out his partner first. The curse of hindsight.

Knowing he was now a target, Remus threw himself to one side. His instincts proved correct when a bolt of fiery red magic sizzled out of the darkness to blast at the rocks where he'd knelt a moment before. He swiftly returned fire but failed to hit his opponent in the gloom of the heavily shadowed cavern.

Crouching behind a bit of jagged rock, he scanned the dim cave, listening carefully for sounds of movement but hearing only lapping waves. Light filtering up through the water threw strange shimmering reflections on the walls and ceiling of the cave yet most of the area remained in deep shadow. Rocks, crevices and the water itself provided excellent places for a man to hide unfortunately.

Remus called out, "Severus, you all right?" Not only did he need to know the answer, but he also hoped that hearing his voice might lure his opponent into betraying his position by taking a shot at him.

Severus' voice, sounding both weary and impatient, came back from the center of the cavern to the accompaniment of sloshing water. "Oh, never better. Your timing needs work, Lupin."

Remus couldn't help but smile to hear that voice he'd missed so much. "Nonsense. My timing is impeccable. You said so yourself."

"Hmmmph…I must have been drunk at the time." Severus sounded as if he was spitting out mouthfuls of water with every word. "I'd appreciate it if you could speed this up a bit. It's getting a trifle damp over here."

Suddenly, a bolt of magic sliced in front of Remus' face, singing his hair and almost taking his head off. "I am trying," he muttered as he returned fire immediately, resulting in a rapid exchange of spellfire with neither opponent quite able to gain the upper hand.

Then, without warning, another figure hurtled down through the entrance hole to land in a crouch in the cave's only pool of daylight. As this second opponent appeared, Ackland shifted his focus to him and lost. Remus, expecting reinforcements, leaped up quickly and covered half the distance to Ackland's hiding place before the man could possibly recover, by the time he returned his focus to Remus it was too late. He was swiftly stunned and disarmed.

The Auror moved out of the light and aimed his wand at Remus, the only person left standing. "Disable your Disillusionment spell and drop your wand," the man insisted firmly.

Remus straightened up as much as he could with the low ceiling and deactivated the spell. Then he lowered his wand, though he didn't discard it. "My name is Remus Lupin. I'm the one who sent young Thaddeus to get help."

"Do you have some identification on you?" the man asked suspiciously. Remus couldn't really blame him for not knowing who to trust, but they didn't have time to waste at the moment.

Remus nodded and gave as much weight to his words as he could. "I do, but my friend is tied to that column of rock over there and since the water is just about to cover him over, I'm going to go and untie him. We can exchange information after I'm done." Then without waiting to see if the Auror agreed or not, he turned and waded into the water.

Just as he reached Severus, a second figure dropped down through the entrance hole and joined the watching Auror. Remus ignored them both and concentrated on Severus who was lying back against the rock with his eyes closed, using all his energy to keep his broken and swollen nose above the water line.

Remus swiftly cut his bonds and as carefully as he could, he moved Severus out of the water until he could lay the man down on a section of cavern floor that hadn't yet been flooded with seawater. He conjured up a ball of floating light so he could examine Severus for injuries that would need swift attention. Finding nothing that was immediately life threatening, he removed his own robe, cast quick drying and warming spells on it, and wrapped Severus's abused body in its folds. As he embraced the weak, shivering man, Severus' eyes opened once more and gazed intently at his rescuer.

"So I wasn't hallucinating. You really came."

Remus smiled. "Of course I came."

Severus snorted sharply. "Took you long enough."

Remus shook his head and his smile broadened. Same old Severus and thank goodness. "You aren't an easy man to find, you know."

A faint smile crossed Severus' pale face. "Of course not. What's life without challenge?"

Remus nodded. "Very true. Now lie still. We need to get you to a Healer."

"No." Severus' voice was insistent. "Just take me home. I have everything I'll need there. They didn't do any permanent damage. I'll be fine."

"You're sure?"

Severus simply glared up at Remus silently.

Rubbing the back of his head, Remus nodded. "Right. Stupid question."

While Remus was examining Severus, the Aurors tied up and removed the Death Eaters from the cave. Now one of them returned and stood nearby still looking vaguely suspicious. "Can he be moved?"

"Well, I certainly don't intend to remain in this damp cave all day," Severus said sharply, turning his glare on the Auror.

Remus suppressed a grin. "I can levitate him out through the hole if that's all right with you."

The Auror shook his head. "I'll do it. You go on up first, if you would, and present your identification to my partner."

Nodding his agreement, Remus squeezed Severus' shoulder encouragingly before getting up and moving over to the cave entrance. Then he jumped up, snagged the side of the hole and pulled himself up into the late morning sunshine.

As he got to his feet in the grassy field, Thaddeus Copter came running over to him. "Mr. Lupin! Were we in time?" Then he glanced at the nearby Auror and lowered his voice. "Is Mr. Snape going to be okay?"

Remus smiled down at Thaddeus. "Yes, Thaddeus, thanks to you, I think he's going to be fine. You were just in time. Couldn't have been better, in fact."

The boy smiled with pride and relief.

The second Auror, having finished securing his prisoners, came up to them just then, identified himself as Auror Landers and asked Remus for his identification. While Remus satisfied him as to his identity, the Auror from the cave, whose name turned out to be Grey, settled Severus gently on the grass nearby.

Auror Landers handed Remus back his papers. "Well, everything seems to be in order, Mr. Lupin, and Mr. Copter has identified you as the man who was helping him look for his boss. Do you happen to know who his assailants are? You told the boy you suspected they were Death Eaters." Landers' tone indicated that he was fairly skeptical of that claim.

Severus spoke up suddenly. "They are Death Eaters. Their names are Mortimer Greene and Jake Ackland. I imagine they're on some wanted list you no doubt have pinned to a wall at your office."

Ackland, who'd regained consciousness to find himself trussed up like a fowl ready for the oven, glared at Severus angrily. "We aren't the only Death Eaters here! Check Prince's arm. He's a Death Eater, too!"

Grey and Landers looked at each other for a moment and then both of them turned to Severus. With a sigh, Severus wearily lifted his arm and, sliding back the sleeve of Remus' robe, he exposed the faded tattoo that was all that was left of the Dark Mark since Voldemort's death.

Before the Aurors could respond, Remus spoke up. "Don't listen to them. This is just the last desperate move of the terminally stupid. The man known locally as Marcus Prince isn't a Death Eater. He's Severus Snape. He spied on the Dark Lord for years masquerading as a Death Eater, which is why these two were after him. Surely you know the story; it was splashed all over the front page of every edition of the Daily Prophet several months back."

"Wish I'd known that," muttered Severus in annoyance.

"This is Snape?" Landers looked slightly dubious. "I thought he was dead."

"That was the idea," Severus continued in the same tone.

"Yes, this is Snape," exclaimed Remus. "If he was merely an ordinary Death Eater, do you really think they'd have been torturing him this way?"

Grey addressed Severus directly. "If you're Snape, why are you hiding out under an assumed name? You were cleared of all charges. They even granted you an Order of Merlin. Posthumously they thought."

Severus stared at the man as if he was an idiot. "Privacy. For years I gave my entire life over to fighting the Dark Lord. Now that he's finally gone, I just want to be left alone. Surely you can understand that?"

Grey frowned thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess so. I heard that Harry Potter can't go anywhere at all without being mobbed by grateful people. It's a tough way to live, I suppose." He didn't seem completely convinced that fame had its down side, but he was willing to concede that it might be the case.

"The price of fame," Remus added. "So you understand then."

The Aurors nodded. "Sure. I suppose. Take care of Mr. Snape. These two won't trouble him again. We'll see to it."

"Thank you," Remus smiled warmly at Severus. "I'll do my best."