Disclaimer: With the exception of some OCs, the characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling. This chapter takes place within the timeline of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Severus Snape spent a great deal of time pondering his wife's sanity that fall. In some ways it was similar to the time when she had personally feared the Dark Lord. At least this time Severus knew the source of her worries but that did not help him in the effort to calm her down. He knew she was efficiently professional at the hospital and there were days at a time when she was her normal self. Whenever the name Sirius Black was mentioned, however, Emily would get a look in her eye and start fretting that the criminal would try to seek them out.

At the same time Emily walked on eggshells where her husband was concerned. The mention of Sirius Black or the sight of Remus Lupin could raise his ire. He was too professional to allow his anger to affect the quality of his teaching. However if his students previously found his classes unpleasant they now actively dreaded Potions class and the Potions Master. With the near-image of James Potter in his third year class, Remus Lupin in the hallways and at meals, and pictures of Sirius Black in the Daily Prophet, Severus felt that he was once again surrounded by the Maurauders.

As the weeks went by and Black did not seek them out Severus and Emily both hoped that things would die down. Events worked against them. On Halloween, Black somehow got into the castle and attacked the picture guarding Gryffindor House. Emily was fortunately working a rare night time shift and Severus was able to concentrate on searching the section of the castle assigned to him. By the time she arrived back at Hogwarts, it had been established that Black was nowhere on campus and although she was upset, Emily could not be as worried about a situation that was over. In the process of searching his section of the castle, Severus diffused his fury.

Emily was on the school grounds when the Dementors attacked a Quidditch match. At least she was fortunately not in the stands. Hoping to tell her about it before she heard from other sources, Severus found her in their bedroom, trembling. He sat down next to her on the bed.

"Just tell me nothing happened to my daughter," she said.

"Our daughter is fine."

"Why do they have to be here?"

"They will be able to keep an eye out for Black."

"If they're so great, how did they let him get loose to begin with?"

"I don't know, my love. Why do you fear them so much?"

"I've seen the damage they can do to a person. It's even worse than what happened to the Longbottoms. They've been involved in picking up prisoners to take to Azkaban, too."

"They won't hurt you. You cast a strong Patronus, Emily."

"What about Hope?"

"They won't get to the students, and if you like, we can teach her over the Holidays."

"Severus, it feels like we're living the worst five years of our lives from before all over and all at once right now."

He had no answer for that other than to hold her close, sitting on the edge of the bed. Her head was pressed to his chest and he kissed it, stroking her hair back from her face. After a while the trembling eased and Emily leaned her head back so that her husband's lips met hers. A new trembling started and before long they were pressed together, skin to skin, in their bed. A short time after that they were clasped together, offering each other comfort and love.

Through the rest of November and December things were pretty quiet on the Sirius Black front and Hogwarts was able to get on with the business of educating wizards and witches. The students went to class, studied, and played as students were expected to do. Hope was even allowed to go on Hogsmeade Weekend, with strict instructions to stick to places other students were and not to tarry near the Dementors.

Christmas was quieter than usual. After enjoying breakfast together, the Snapes went in two directions. Severus went to the Great Hall for dinner per the special request of the Headmaster while Emily and Hope went to Margo's house for Christmas dinner. The family reunited over a late supper and enjoyed an evening that did not include being interrupted by Argus Filch searching for students on the third floor, as he had done two years previously.

Classes started again uneventfully. The students returned to the school and re-entered the round of classes and studying. Late one night Severus was wakened by Filius Flitwick. Black had re-entered the school and had attacked a student. All the teachers needed to search the corridors again. Emily sat up.

"Do you think I need to worry?"

"He's not here for you. Most likely he's gone again. If he comes, immobilize him and send your Patronus to me."

Emily nodded and hugged her husband. There was a gleam in his eye as he tied the sash of his dressing gown and grabbed his wand. She knew that Severus hoped he would be the one to find Sirius and she shivered to think what would happen if he did.

Dear Hope,

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, I'm in even greater disgrace than ever. I wish I was not so forgetful. Everyone in my House is pretty nice to me, but I have to wonder what they're thinking and saying when I'm not around. I now have two professors constantly angry at me and most of the others give me angry looks.

It's hard to study when everyone hates me. I know I've made a mess of this essay. Can you give me any ideas on how to fix it?

Sincerely,

Sir Luckless

Dear Lucky,

Nothing is that bad. It will blow over in a while and you will do something that makes people look at you with respect. Don't try so hard. I think you do your best work when you're not thinking too much about it. Concentrate on Herbology when you get nervous. You do so well in that. Then work on the other things.

I don't know whether to be more worried about Daddy or Mum these days. When I see them, she's extremely nervous and worried. He's a little bit scary. He's really angry about something, but at the same time, he seems to be hoping that something will happen and he will get to do something. I don't know how to explain it. I think he had another run-in with that House mate of yours and with Professor Lupin. Those two make him mad enough separately. I'm glad I wasn't there when he had them in his office together.

I put some notes on your essay so I hope you were planning to re-copy it. It wasn't that bad. Most of the stuff was right, but you had some things mixed up. If you sort it out the way I suggested it will still be the way you originally wrote it but it will make more sense.

Sincerely,

Hope

Margo Snape was pretty tired. She was taking a heavy course load during third year. It was not as heavy as the one Hermione Granger was taking, but by the spring, Margo's courses were taking their toll on her.

Hermione was completely exhausted. Using a time turner to add several hours to her week in order to fit all of her courses in was catching up to her. On top of that, she was spending as much time as possible in the library, trying to keep the Ministry from killing that Hippogriff of Hagrid's.

Had the girls been in any other combination of two houses, they might have been friends, helping each other study their extra subjects. They might have consoled each other over the struggle to learn so much. They might have enjoyed the friendly competition of their relative positions even if they didn't become actual friends. However, since one of the girls was in Gryffindor and the other in Slytherin, those compensations were lost.

Everyone was waiting for Potions class, and Margo had a note to give to Neville. She bumped up against him hard, dropping the scroll on the stack of books he was carrying. "Hey, watch it!" The Slytherins laughed.

Hermione had had it. She was tired of trying to find a way to save an unsavable beast, a weariness that had caused her to slap Malfoy. Some of her classes were starting to run together. She had recently missed Cheering Charms by sleeping through Charms class and had caused a major disturbance in Divination, dropping out of that class. She was at the end of her rope. For almost two years she had watched the Wonder Girl of Slytherin pick on Neville and couldn't understand why he would just shrug it off. Today it pushed her over the edge.

She dropped her bag of books and took out her wand, sending a Stinging Jinx at the Potions professor's daughter. In a flash, Margo dropped her books, turned, and whipped out her own wand, sending the very same Stinging Jinx back at Hermione. The other students were riveted, and did not notice the dungeon door open, nor the professor standing there, who quickly Disillusioned himself, deciding to see what happened before he issued detentions.

Gallant as their House demanded, Hermione's two best friends quickly entered the fray, one with Expelliarimus and the other with Stupefy. Margo ducked their spells and hit all three with Petrificus Totalus. She was preparing something else when a voice full of quiet confidence and authority broke in.

"Protego!" An invisible wall came between the combatants and the duel was over.

In the shouting crowd, Margo was the only student who noticed Neville standing there, clutching his wand in one hand and Trevor in the other. He had a look of worry and disappointment in his eye that struck her somewhere in her middle. She nodded her head at no one in particular and picked up her books. She walked blindly into her father's classroom, almost bumping into him and reminding him to remove the spell he had used on himself. The professor stepped into the hallway long enough to release the frozen students with Finite Incantatem before class began.

Margo looked at the black board with her eyes full of tears and set to work, letting her hair hang down to hide her face. She couldn't look at her father, so she didn't notice the concern in his eye when he looked at her nor the speculation when he looked at Neville. She quietly made her potion and set her vial on the professor's desk, and then dropped a small scrap of parchment on Neville's desk when she went back to her own to get her books.

N--
I'm so ashamed. Please forgive me.
--M

Dear Hope,

Don't mention it. I know how things really are. Was it you who sent that House mate of yours to the Hospital Wing with bright orange spots all over? Wasn't it because he wouldn't leave you alone? And how exactly did you get your cousin to stop hassling you? I can guess. And after the disgrace I have been under all year, I think I can understand.

I just couldn't stand by and let you massacre my friends. Or maybe they would have figured out how to get you. I'm not like they are, but they're the best friends I've got, besides you, and I don't want any of you to get hurt. I don't know what got into her. She said she hates to see you constantly pick on me. I guess we've gotten sloppy when we pass our notes. We'll have to work on it.

I know I have questions about today's class. I don't remember what they are right now.

Sincerely,

Lucky

Professor Snape finished preparing a batch of Wolfsbane Potion as his wife watched him. The past month and a half between the Easter Holiday and exams had been fairly quiet. As soon as Lupin came for the potion, they would head to one of the towers to watch the moon rise. When Lupin didn't come, they decided to bring it to him. It would be on their way, after all.

When they arrived in the office of the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, the door was open, but Lupin was nowhere to be found. It looked as though he had left it just a minute or two earlier. Severus went to put the cup of potion on the desk and discovered an odd piece of parchment.

"Emily, look at this. It's that parchment that insulted me last winter."

Emily came to the desk and saw that the parchment was not full of insults but rather a map.

"The 'Marauder's Map?' James and Sirius and all of them made this?" Emily couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"It insulted me and referred to them by their nicknames for each other. Look, there's a name for everyone on the map. See, we're right there in the Defense Professor's office. It should tell us where Lupin is."

They looked at the map intently. After a few minutes, Emily said. "Look, he's there, moving away from the Whomping Willow, toward the edge of the map. What do you suppose he's doing?"

Severus looked up. "He's in the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack. He's probably gone to meet Black there, which means they must have been working together all along. I knew it." He put his hands on his wife's shoulders. "Go back to our rooms and stay there. Don't leave unless you hear from me or the Headmaster. Do you understand?"

Emily nodded. She didn't want to be near Sirius. It had been bad enough, not knowing what was going on when Quirrell was near her. If Sirius was near her and was working for the Voldemort...Emily shivered. Severus pulled her close for just a second and kissed her.

"Everything will be fine, Emily. We will catch him tonight and we will learn what we need from him and then he will see justice, finally. I need to go, now."

Emily made her way to her own sitting room and tried to read some articles she had marked for herself. She paced the room and wondered what Severus was doing. She read again and paced some more. She screamed when Albus Dumbledore's head appeared in the Floo.

"Ah, Emily, I am sorry to have startled you."

Emily stood with her hand over her heart, breathing hard, and shook her head. "It's no problem, Albus. What can I do for you?"

"There was an altercation on the grounds and one of the participants is locked into Filius's office. I wonder if you could look him over for me, just to make sure he has no substantial injuries or illness."

Emily reached for her bag and said, "Certainly, Headmaster. I'll be right up."

The older wizard smiled kindly and said, "Thank you, Emily. I knew I could count on you."

A/N: For those who are celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope you are enjoying the Holiday! I imagine quite a few people are traveling this week. I hope your travel goes uneventfully.

If it seems like I'm galloping through the third book, I am. Professor Snape doesn't figure much into the storyline here until the end of the school year.

Also, just a note in passing, the next few chapters include what is probably as close to PWP as I am likely to post.

Finally, I would like to add a note of thanks to everyone who has been reading this story and to those who have reviewed. Thanks especially go to beta reader Trickie Woo.