Chapter 17

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A dark figure stepped out, his voice a low rasp as he brushed soot away from his black robes. He grimaced. "Albus, your damned bird has been pestering me for the last five minutes. What do you—" Severus Snape froze, taking in the people that surrounded him. Hermione and Professor McGonagall looked stunned, while Celeste Hopkins had automatically reached for her wand. The Doctor waved at him and Rose elbowed him in the side. He glared up at the portrait. "What have you done to my Floo network?"

"Just a little bit of restructuring, my boy. Don't worry, it will revert."

"It had better. Damn it, old man, most people stop menacing their colleagues after they die."

"You've been tucked away in that lonely department for long enough, Severus. It's time for you to be a part of the world again."

"Thank you so much for your consideration." He glared at the Doctor and Rose. "From your reactions, I'm assuming the memory spell didn't take."

Rose schooled her face into seriousness. "Not so much, no."

Hermione gasped. "You knew? You knew he was alive?"

She looked at the older girl and shrugged uncomfortably. "It wasn't my story to tell."

Snape threw Dumbledore a poisonous glance at that, but he looked back at the group in front of the fireplace when Professor McGonagall spoke, her voice cracking with emotion. "Severus, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

He sighed. "You weren't meant to, Minerva."

"But I should've."

"If you had, it would've meant I'd failed in my task. If you're looking for guilt, Minerva, I won't give it to you."

She choked in a small, hiccupping breath and nodded, calming herself visibly. When she spoke again, her voice was level, with just the slightest of quavers in it. "From the timing, I assume that you were also present when Mr. Mott and Miss Tyler encountered the Death Eater?" Snape nodded, tightening his shoulders, and McGonagall blinked. "Oh, and do sit down."

"I prefer to stand, thank you. And yes, I was there. The spell Mr. Mott and Miss Tyler used activated some personal wards I'd set on the Shrieking Shack, and they alerted me that someone was looking for me." He cut his eyes at the two on the loveseat. "Until I arrived, I had no idea it was a pair of errant students. They weren't alone, though—Drusilla Marbury was with them. She'd apparently followed them as they snuck in, and had been observing the spell casting."

The breath hissed between Celeste's teeth. "So that's where Marbury was. We were wondering. It's not in her nature to lie low. What did she want?"

"That's the peculiar thing. There was, of course, the usual rot—you shall pay for your villainy, etc., all without a trace of irony—but she claimed that one faction of the Death Eaters were searching for Voldemort's heir."

McGonagall frowned. "Have we heard of any such person?"

Snape shook his head impatiently. "No, because such a person doesn't exist. The Dark Lord had no interest in siring an heir. To do so would be tantamount to accepting his own mortality, in his eyes." Hermione gave him a curious look, and a small, humorless smile tilted his lips. "Lucius tried to suggest it, once. That was the last time anyone brought it up."

Celeste had seated herself in a high-backed wing chair, and she was watching Snape. "You said one faction was searching for the heir. Any idea who they might be?"

"From what Marbury said, it seems likely that the group sniffing around Hogwarts is made up of those that were incarcerated between the wars."

Hermione paled and clenched her wand, her knuckles standing out yellow-white against her skin. Her voice was rough when she spoke. "At least Bellatrix isn't a part of it."

Snape was watching the older girl carefully, and for a moment Rose thought she saw sympathy in those hard black eyes. "I heard about what Molly did. I have to admit I'm sorry to have missed that."

Her mouth tilted up in a smile without warmth. "All we'd need is a Pensieve, and you might have a deal."

McGonagall's eyebrows drew together. "Severus, Miss Granger, please. We are talking about someone's death, here."

Hermione's back remained unbowed. "I know." The headmistress gave her an unnerved glance, but Snape seemed almost amused.

Celeste cleared her throat. "What happened to Marbury?"

Snape sighed. "Some very dark magic. Apparently someone had booby-trapped her mind—she came close to revealing what 'the heir' was about, and for that, she paid with her life."

The Auror's eyes narrowed. "And we should believe you because…?"

Both Hermione and McGonagall stiffened at her tone, but the Doctor rolled his eyes. "Because he's got two witnesses, sitting right here." He grinned cheekily at Snape. "Good thing that memory spell didn't work, eh?"

Snape shot him an annoyed glance, but it was Dumbledore's portrait that spoke for him. "Are you doubting my judgment, Mrs. Hopkins?"

She looked up to meet his blue eyes and gulped, her eyes widening. "No, sir, it's just that—"

"I believe the necessity of Severus' actions has been more than adequately explained. If you have further questions, you might direct them to the Minister of Magic, who is by now well aware of Severus' loyalties. Until then, do not pester him with unnecessary questions."

Snape glanced over his shoulder, one of his eyebrows winging up impressively. "Oh, now you decide you should defend me?"

The portrait's gaze dropped below his frame. "My boy, you know I couldn't have risked it."

"Of course not."

Rose yawned suddenly and blushed. McGonagall blinked and shook her head a little, looking at her students. "This went far longer than I anticipated. I do apologize, Mr. Mott, Miss Tyler and Miss Granger. If Severus was also present during the Death Eater encounter, I believe it is time for you to head back to your dormitories. That is, if staying is all right with you, Severus?"

He nodded minutely at her. "Of course, Minerva." He sat next to her as Hermione led the Doctor and Rose out.

Rose cleared her throat as they walked back towards the main hall. "Hermione, it's not curfew yet. D'you mind if I catch up to you later?"

The older girl glanced back at them, raising an eyebrow. "No, not at all. I'll see you later." She paused. "And you get to deal with Donna when you get back."

"I know, thanks." They passed an empty classroom, and Rose pulled the Doctor into it.

His eyebrows flew up. "Not that any of this seems bad, Rose, but… what's going on?"

"You got through the Auror's wards at the Shrieking Shack."

"Well, it wasn't that difficult—Dad used to be an Auror, and they all tend to use their magic the same way."

She waved a hand impatiently. "That's not what I'm talkin' about. You got through the wards at the Shrieking Shack. Why did you stay in the compartment earlier? God knows I didn't need to let you out."

He winced. "Rose, that's not—"

"Just answer the question, Doctor."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Because you didn't want me to leave, all right? And maybe… maybe I didn't want to." She walked away from him, pacing back and forth in front of the teacher's desk. He watched her carefully, leaning against the wall. "Rose?"

"Is it always gonna be like this, then? What happens between us happens when you decide you want it to?" He stayed silent, his shoulders tensing. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, tangling it in the thick gold locks. "If we're gonna be anything, Doctor, you can't keep doin' that. You can't decide you know what's best for me, for both of us. Gods knows I care about you and I missed you more than breathin' sometimes, but if that's what you're going to do, then I can get on by myself."

He scowled, his face cast in shadow. "What is this, an ultimatum?"

"If that's what you want to call it, then yes. You can't just decide that I'd be better off without you an' leave me to wonder what I did wrong for weeks."

He sighed, tugging on his earlobe. "Rose, you didn't do anything wrong."

"No? Sure as hell felt like it, when my best friend decided to pull an Invisible Man on me when I needed him most."

He winced. "I'm sorry."

Some of the tenseness eased out of her shoulders, and she let out a shaky breath. "I'm not lookin' for an apology, not that that wasn't nice to hear. I just want to know you won't pull that on me again."

He looked up and swallowed, his dark eyes darting to her and then away again. "I won't."

"You'd better not."

They stood in silence, the empty classroom between them. The Doctor scuffed the toes of his battered green trainers against the stone floor, and Rose sighed and moved forward. His arms opened automatically for her and she burrowed into his chest, closing her eyes as she snuggled against the soft wool of his jumper.

They didn't move for a long time.

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