Thanks to T for her help.
"Well, at least you won't have to worry about Ariana's existence inconveniencing you. No meeting at the Wizengamot is required now. Your precious, sterling reputation will be maintained," Snape informed Albus. Severus' voice was strained as though he was on the knife's edge between laughing or sobbing and could go either way. "And now, you'll only need the one grave. In fact, I owe you a great deal of gratitude. Thank you, Albus."
"Severus?" questioned a shaken Albus.
"I won't have to share her with you. I won't live in fear of the day that you steal her love from me," raved Severus. "With your lemon drops, your vaults full of gold… your purple unicorns."
Minerva attempted to calm Severus who simply wasn't having any of THAT nonsense. A dazed Remus had managed to crawl on his hands and knees only a few meters away from the commotion. Albus could only pray that Lupin thought this entire conversation was a nothing more than a hallucinogenic experience caused by his overdose of silver. Not because he was embarrassed about the situation, but because he knew Severus would not be happy if Remus knew about the baby.
"How could I dare hope to compete with that?" Severus quietly questioned.
"I'd never take her from you, Severus. Never," protested Albus. "We'll raise her together. There will be no competition."
"It will be worth it. What the Dark Lord did to me, what YOU did to me. Because Ariana will be mine… forever. Never yours… only mine. The two of us will be together forever."
And Severus chokingly laughed.
The battle raged around them. The Death Eaters, upon seeing that their Leader had fallen, seemed determined to suicide in a stunning flambé rather than face a Dementor's Kiss. Meanwhile, Alastor Moody, see that Albus was a tad verklempt by his personal life, had taken command. The retired Auror was shepherding the Order to war with his uniquely Moody mixture of obscenities, astringent observation on their personal shortcomings and more than a dash of acerbity.
"ABERFORTH! I've seen goats put more BACK in it! Hestia, grab Black! He's just gone completely undone! Move it, girl, are you planning on waiting for May Day so you can snog him after you rescue him?"
However, Albus didn't care about the battle. The bright boy once known as Tom Riddle had long been replaced by a self-styled Dark Lord, so there was no hope for him. Albus's concern was foremost Severus Snape. The man's dark eyes were bright and feral, and he was… laughing.
Albus wasn't sure what to expect, perhaps a richly-deserved physical pummeling from Severus… but… to be denounced as Ariana's murderer? And not Ariana, as in his sister, but Ariana as in his… their… daughter's name.
Severus, you named our child after my sister? Why? Did you hope that I'd be more… attached… to her? Or is it a blatant reminder of my failings? You and Damyan were lovers… so I'm not sure what your rationale for her name is.
Severus' inappropriate laughter required Albus to do something, anything. Perhaps a Calming Spell? Sedation? However, he had to be careful because of the baby… because of Ariana. Perhaps, he could calm Severus without the use of magic? Why the bloody hell wasn't Minerva doing anything? She was so much better at emotions than he was.
"Severus," Albus hesitantly repeated. "Are you… well…?"
Albus' apprehension seemed to enrage Severus.
"We don't have time for this!" Minerva snapped.
"I am quite sane, if that's what you're asking. Also, I am quite well emotionally as it's done, old man." Severus quietly said. "Get yourself a new pet dog. Never again, will I crawl on my belly, begging for a kind word, a pat on my head. I won't do your dirty work anymore. You'll have to get your lily white hands dirty."
Severus smiled, however the stranger's face showed no emotion akin to mirth.
"I've stopped hoping… that one day you might look at me with something besides… disgust. You see, my eyes have been opened. You're no better than I am. The only difference is that you…consistently… win. "
Again, Severus paused, weighing his words. His face hid his true emotions, but his shaking hands were betraying him. He was bloody frightened as with Damyan dead, so was Ariana.
"It's amazing, is it not? That the one man who dared to open my eyes to your true nature, now lies dead by your hand?" Severus turned to face Minerva and his voice shook as he warned Minerva. "Be wary, Minerva. You warned me about him also. I would greatly grieve if you should die before me. Be ever vigilant, Minerva."
Albus swallowed once, then again. There was a great deal of truth in Severus' accusations. Not completely the truth but enough legitimacy in his statements to make them hard to dismiss.
"Severus…" Albus began once again. "I know you're angry with me. You have every right to be angry with me, but please…"
"Spare me your platitudes." Albus flinched from the acid in Severus' tone. "Damyan's down. You've won. That means that I will freely return to my cozy, gilded, padded cell for the few days that remain allotted to me."
"Severus," Albus began.
The Russian witch interrupted, "Your stinking alliance is crumbling, Albus. They're all going after the Brotherhood. Take a look, damn it. Is there any Auror in Eastern and Western Europe that is actually AT their assigned posts? NO. Even the bloody Nurmengard guards are here! They've distracted you and Snake Face, pulled everyone here… and that's a bloody Brotherhood suicide squad! They're planning on dying and taking everyone with them!"
Her face twisted as she fought far too many decades of layered compulsions. Her mouth moved soundlessly and then she screamed her frustration.
"For someone that's supposedly so bloody brilliant, you're a bigger daft prat than Damyan said you were! Can't you SEE? I can't bloody tell you what you're too thick to realize! Open your bloody eyes, man!"
Severus loudly inhaled.
"He is using me…. To get Gellert … out of prison?" Severus' voice trembled and broke.
Albus' heart skipped a beat when he saw how Severus was affected by that revelation. Yes, Severus was distraught, but somehow … resigned. As though the Dragon's betrayal wasn't truly unanticipated.
Once, many years ago, Albus had seen that identical look on a young man's face. He had worn it when he had the painful realization that the Werewolf who had nearly killed him wouldn't be punished. Because the man the young man had trusted… had believed… would do the right thing… wouldn't.
"I… trusted… him… He's just like… everyone else…Just using me… because… who I am… what I can do for him… I should have realized. I am a fool!" Severus sank to his knees, his hands wrapped around his belly as though Ariana was the only thing he could believe in. "When will I finally accept that bitter truth? I am a tool, nothing more and far, far less."
"No," Katya protested. She put her hand on Severus' shoulder to reassure him. "Not Damyan. He cares for you. For you, not what you can do for him."
"No, no, no, I never viewed you as a tool," asserted Albus even while Minerva added her own heartfelt protestations.
Snezhana Ignatieva was the defacto leader of the Brotherhood. After Gellert's humiliating stumble at the Battle She Would Never Acknowledge, as the new First among Equals, it had been her decision to break the Brotherhood into cells. Hide away in the shadows, regroup, reform. Her unwavering goal? To do the unthinkable and break her lover out of Nurmengard.
She also possessed an analytical mind with a mechanical bent. It had taken the single-minded, stalwart Snezhana far too many years, but she had discovered the single weakness in Nurmengard's rumored impregnable fortifications. The tower cell that housed Gellert? All too vulnerable if one could fly. Couldn't use a carpet, couldn't levitate, couldn't hover… one had to possess a group of powerful mages that could fly and cast at the same time. If hit just so, a small, faultily shielded brick would crumble to dust, leading to an instability that could be exploited.
And Damyan's little stray had given her the ability to rescue her Lord and Master.
It was almost anticlimactic. After so many decades in that damnable prison, the guards had done a runner thanks to the noble sacrifice of the senior most Brotherhood. The noble cadre was creating a significant distraction in Manchester, pulling everyone and then some there. And the Nurmengard guard had naturally decided to join in the fun. Her spies had informed her that even the damnable Yanks had arrived.
"Stand well back!" She ordered, and then they began to cast.
Gellert's escape was rather anticlimactic, but the look of stunned disbelief on Gellert's face when he saw her fly past his cell window made up for the lack of resistance.
The walls fell easily to the combined might of the sortie of determined wizards and the Brotherhood was soon safely ensconced at Rada's heavily fortified Caribbean island. The newly freed Gellert was emotionally overwhelmed by his freedom. Snezhana loathed leaving him, not now, not after so many years apart, however her Brothers and Sisters were in Manchester and they needed assistance.
"Save my Giant and my Dragon!" Gellert roughly ordered. "My Brothers and Sisters must live so I can thank them for their loyalty and their sacrifices. We will build a new World Order! But we must have Byakko, Rada and the others here!"
Snezhana saluted her Lord, her lover and the epicenter of her life. Then she took her fresh troops, who had been held in reserve, and who had had not flown to Nurmengard. They were the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Gellert's original supporters, so they were eager to prove their worth to the noble cause. They would fight and fight well to rescue those brave souls in Manchester. They took their leave even while the remaining warlocks and witches chanted Gellert's name.
Meanwhile, in Manchester, the magical battle continued unabated. The sheer amount of magic being discharged successfully disrupted the weather pattern of Europe for ten years. Among other issues, it caused an increase in global warming and a permanent change in the flight patterns of mating Western European griffins.
Filius Flitwick and Horace Slughorn were most assuredly not what most young witches would consider Magical Warriors of Universal Renown. They weren't pinup material for hormonal young witches and wizards. Filius was a tad on the short side, plus his dueling career was long behind him. Horace was rather round, his formidable reputation having been made from being a warrior in the battlefield of wine, woman and song.
However, together, in the midst of this magical Apocalypse, they were a Dangerous Duo as everyone daftly underestimated them as… harmless…. Horace was the defensive mage, as he was truly concerned in keeping his hard earned physique in one piece while an enraged Filius was on the offensive. While normally Filius believed himself the equal of many a taller mage, in times like this, he believed it was for the best that most couldn't be bothered to see him. With many a viscious Hex hurled at kneecap height, there were many mages that day who rued underestimating the Dangerous Duo.
Filius gestured and Horace bent his considerable will to creating an Impenetrable Disillusionment Charm. For the moment, they would be safe and sound from the various Charms, Hexes, Sticks and Stones that might be thrown their way.
"Horace? Can you sense the nodes?" Filius intensely asked.
A panting Horace paused to catch his breath, concentrated and then nodded his head. "They've gone wild."
"Building to a crescendo, I'd say," the musical Filius murmured. "Someone is agitating them. If someone drains them to augment their own power, they'd be able to wipe out the entire city of Manchester. Do you see Severus?"
"Yes," Horace puffed. "This way…"
There was a crack of lightning, several spurts of green light, and a rumbling noise in the general vicinity of Severus.
"Whoever just caused that… just drained the Nodes," Horace growled. "They're bloody empty."
"They're not just empty, they're bloody destabilized." Filius took off at as fast a canter than he could. Times like this he cursed his short legs, but like bloody hell would try to bloody Apparate into THAT magical mess. Node magic! There was a reason why Node Magic had been outlawed eight centuries ago! Because they were impossible to control once they went rogue.
There was a roar.
A mighty lion's sounding shook the very air itself and Albus was forced to turn from the current crisis to find out what was happening now. Everyone stopped to stare at the gyrating lion apparition in the sky. Well, not everyone stopped to stare at the sight in the sky; the Brotherhood who had been waiting for this signal, screamed, "GELLLLLLERT!" and then initiated the next part of their nefarious plans. Hit and run strike guerilla tactics, the various troikas Apparated into the midst of the assorted national groups and began casting. The Dark trios struck hard and fast, before quickly popping into another location.
Albus creatively cursed when he realized that everyone was losing a significant chunk of their forces due to friendly fire.
The French Magische Liga van Defensie were completely barmy, determined to capture the mages that had destroyed their Liga back in 1940's. To bloody hell if they were hitting anyone else with their Hexes. The Americans were uncontrollable as they were having an adrenalin high, the British were panicking as Gawain Robards was shouting nonsensical commands and the Bulgarians and Czechs were heading this way… madness and retribution blazing in their eyes, determined to capture the dead Draganov.
Didn't they realize that Damyan was dead?
Or had their sanity been replaced by a blood thirty need for revenge? Albus created a magical barrier around the group surrounding Severus to protect them from rampaging Bulgarians and Czechs. If the Eastern Europeans went up against it, they'd bounce all the way to London. IF they were daft enough to try to Apparate through the barrier, it would require split second timing and the luck of Merlin himself.
"Severus, we need to get you out of here," Albus commanded. He raised his wand to create a portkey, but he was stopped by a tall, graying witch.
"No," the Russian witch protested. "You've got to get through me to get him. I don't particularly like Damyan's friends, but I know that I don't approve of your treatment of Severus either. I found him in the alleyway; I know firsthand what neglect he suffered at your hands. From what I've witnessed of Snake Face, Damyan and you, Damyan is the only one that actually cared for the lad."
With a quick gesture from the witch, the Dragon banner righted itself and flew over to her. It planted itself in the ground behind her, displaying its torn and muddy Dragon proudly. Defiantly, she raised her wand.
"I am Ekaterina Sidorova Dobrolubskaia. At one time, I was a proud Russian Auror, now I'm just a speck of dirt beneath your pretty purple boots. Nevertheless, I hereby challenge the grand and glorious Albus Dumbledore to a duel to the death," she crisply stated.
While Katya knew the piss poor odds for anyone stupid enough to face the most powerful wizard since Merlin, she still stood in front of Severus. With her last breath, she would defend the young man. There was no one else, and someone HAD to do it. With Damyan's down and Byakko getting off killing werewolves, that left her.
Katya swallowed once and then whispered to herself, "Bloody hell, Dami, once again, you leave me to pick up the pieces."
"Katya," protested Severus. "Don't."
"Shut up," the Russian growled. "I'm doing this because Damyan can't and someone needs to put Albus in his place."
"We don't have time for this," Albus echoed that refrain. "We need to get Severus and the baby to safety. There's no reason to duel over Severus. We both agree that Severus needs to get out of here."
Still the witch steadily held her wand, refusing to take back her challenge. Yet Albus saw in the witch's blue-grey eyes that she was bloody terrified of facing him, Nonetheless, she refused to yield. It was a awe-inspiring act of friendship and dedication.
Severus, you have found yourself the staunchest of defenders.
"We have different ideas on what Severus' safety is," Ekaterina quietly stated. "I know what Damyan wanted. He's the only one that had Severus' best interests at heart in this entire mess. Fight me, or is the great Albus frightened of a Dark Wizard's whore?"
There was a flash and Siberian Serge, the Head Auror from the Russian Consortium of Aurors, appeared inside the barrier. The burly Russian was surprisingly light on his feet as he delivered a high roundhouse kick to Ekaterina's wand shoulder. Somehow defying the laws of physics, he managed to follow it up with a middle-kick complete with an elbow jab to her belly. The witch's wand went flying and she responded quickly by striking back at Serge.
Severus and Minerva protested, but the two Russians continued to fight dirty until they were clinched in position. Ekatya kicked her former supervisor in the 'nads, and in response, he grabbed her by the throat. He had his fingers around her windpipe and he was gently squeezing because Serge knew that the witch would be more focused on breathing than casting one final spell. No matter how good your training was, even though Katya's training had been quite thorough, the overwhelming urge to survive would take precedence. Yet, she continued to struggle and fight despite her disadvantage.
"Yield," he growled. "Or you'll be as dead as you're rumored to be. I'd suggest you don't kick my privates again, Katya. One more boot in the balls like the last one, and I will not prevent my hand from tightening. While I'm not planning on fathering any more children, I still it in working order."
Nodding her acceptance of surrender, Katya's acquiescence failed to appease the skeptical Serge. He magically bound and gagged her, and then blindfolded her.
"Ekaterina Sidorova Dobrolubskaia, I hereby charge you with treason, abandonment of your post and physically consorting with the enemy. I am predicting that there are a thousand more charges in your future, but there will be a trial. Understanding that a conviction on any of those charges requires a death sentence, how do you plead?" Serge paused, waiting for a response.
"Do we really have time for this?" Minerva snapped.
"Guilty, I plead Guilty on all charges on which I am accused now, and in the future," was Katya's soft response.
"She's not guilty! Katya was jumped in an alleyway. Damyan found her… she was dying… from a stab wound…he rescued her and Intrinsically Bonded her," vainly protested Severus. "She couldn't escape from him."
The Russian barked a laugh. "Intrinsic Bonding? She wouldn't be this calm if she was Intrinsically Bonded. She'd be wailing like a Banshee because Draganov's dead."
"He modified the Bond before we left the shop," Severus protested. "He said he did. So she wouldn't share his death."
"You're one of Draganov's ilk. Your words mean nothing to me, and your protestations will be worthless to the court," was Serge's terse response. Easily, he physically picked up the bound Ekaterina and threw her over his shoulder. "Albus, I'll contact you when we're having the trial. You'll need to bring your prisoner to us. We'll want his version of the situation, if just for the entertainment value."
"Severus is not a prisoner," snapped Minerva even while Albus protested Serge's character assassination.
"Look, Albus, I understand that this isn't easy for you. When one's protégé goes to the Dark Side, it takes part of your soul. I know. Katya was one of mine, you see. She was of the best trainees I ever had. I was the one that sent her after Draganov…because I thought she was ready. As you can see, I was wrong, Albus." The Siberian sounded paternally disappointed.
"No, no," Severus was protesting to Minerva. "She saved my life, Minerva. You know what that really means. You can't just wash your hands of her! They'll kill her!"
A despondent Minerva shook her head. "I cannot do anything for her, Severus. I'll go to her trial, I'll be a witness for her, but I can't fight Serge."
"It'll be fair and thorough, whatever happens to her. I promise you that. She was one of mine, and if it comes to it, when the time comes, I'll be the one to execute her. It will be clean and it will be fast," the Siberian explained. He meant to be comforting and reassuring, but Severus was frightened by Serge's easy acceptance of Katya's guilt.
A wild-eyed Severus turned to Albus.
"You've won. You've bloody won, Albus. I surrender, I'll do whatever you want, just don't let them take Katya," pleaded Severus. "She's bloody innocent!"
"You'll come back to Hogwarts? Willingly?" Albus asked. "No more running?"
Truly, Albus didn't mean to sound as though he was striking with a bargain with Severus. He just wanted confirmation that Severus would stop running.
Severus was prevented by answering by a loud boom. The detonation rattled the sky and the Earth trembled beneath them. Where once had been a spark, there was a fireball. A bright, burning fireball that broke off into dozens of smaller sparks. They encircled the battleground, going faster and faster. The various nations began ordering a retreat and regroup, but they were faced with the shocking reality that far too many of their personnel were down… by their own wands.
"Not more of them," Serge growled. "That must have been one big bloody boulder they hid under."
The sparks fell to Earth, and upon impact, they Transfigured into mages. A hundred or so young wizards and witches, they were stationed in a perimeter around the bloody battlefield. The new arrivals had their wands at the ready and looked eager to fight.
"Hold!" called out a female voice. "At this time, per the Roberts' Rule of Wizard Warfare, we are requesting permission for the wounded and the dead to be removed from the battlefield. We will walk among you, remove our fallen Brothers and Sisters, and then continue the Battle. Do you agree, Albus? "
"Why the hell aren't you the bloody Minister of Magic?" Serge growled. "Shouldn't they be presenting their list of demands to the British Aurors? Not the local school teacher?"
Albus ignored the caustic Siberian. He put his wand against his throat and began to speak.
"Snezhana, I agree," Albus' voice thundered. "Take away your fallen and we will remove ours."
The witch began walking toward Albus and she was followed by a young male who was brightly clad in green.
"Lower your barrier," she ordered Albus. "We want Draganov."
Upon her arrival, Snezhana nodded her head once in acknowledgement to Albus, and gestured for the young man to attend to Draganov. He pulled back his hood to reveal possibly one of the most breath-taking men Minerva McGonagall had ever laid her eyes upon. That charmer could only be Naum, the pretty boy that Damyan had tried to entice Severus with.
Fortunately, the boy seemed to possess a brain to match his good looks as his movements were quick and sure. However, Minerva was still hoping that Severus was not intrigued by the brainy and handsome package.
"Naum?" The female witch softly questioned. The Healer shook his head once and she inhaled sharply at his unspoken comment. That done, Snezhana turned around and looked for someone that wasn't there. "Byakko? Report!"
"Where's his bloody foot?" the Healer demanded. "Accio foot!"
"TOMA! RADA! ILIAS!" Snezhana continued to command a response from her bloody troops.
It was almost comical in a dark, macabre way, the way Draganov's severed foot eagerly bounced and bounded across the battlefield in order to answer its summoner. The Healer shook his head once more and grimaced as he examined it.
"Infected," he hissed. "Not a clean splinch. But that's the least of your worries, my Brother."
He picked up Damyan's leg and attached the foot even while Filius and Horace arrived at the scene. They were both huffing and puffing from their exertions. Their unanticipated appearance caused a wandshy Snezhana to whip out her wand and point it at them. Unlike the others, she didn't lower her wands as she wasn't fooled by a mage's outward appearance.
"Albus… Manchester's unstable…" Filius gasped. "We need to evacuate."
"Immediately," huffed a helpful Horace.
"What is this trickery? Report," tersely ordered Gellert's second.
"Filius? Could you please explain?" Albus politely requested.
"Damyan drained the Nodes," stateda bloody Byakko. He was glassy eyed and unsteadily wobbling on his feet as he arrived. He was being supported by the half-giant Toma.
"Node magic? Why was he playing with Nodes?" Minerva asked. She had a hypothesis why as Severus seemed to be in fine physical mettle, despite the chaos surrounding him. But like bloody hell would she tell anyone. She feared a healthy and vigorous Severus would do a runner when he realized that Damyan had played with the Nodes to give him one final gift.
"I don't know," theJapanese warlock explained. "Perhaps a final strike of some sort? But he got cut down before he could cast it?"
The Earth protested beneath their feet. It was a deep groan of fitful irritation, and Albus Peered into the soil, Saw the empty nodes, Felt the resulting collapse of the various tunnels and Sensed the sea rushing in to fill the voids.
"Earthquake," was his dire assessment, which was chorused by the assorted mages. It was only a matter of when, not if, the earthquake would occur
"We will withdraw and evacuate," Snezhana imperiously decided. It wasn't her country, why would she care if it collapsed into the sea? "Albus can handle this. Toma? Can you Disapparate with Damyan?"
"As always, I will carry my Brother for as long as necessary," the half-giant softly promised. "Though I fear that this will be the penultimate time that I will carry him."
A teary Toma took Damyan's banner down and he tenderly wrapped his fallen comrade's broken body in it. After that, he easily picked up Damyan's corpse, and popped away.
"Damyan's woman?" Byakko politely reminded his commander.
"Damyan no longer has need for his whore to mollycoddle him and appease his bad humor. She's not one of us, she knows nothing of our strategies, therefore they can have her," decided the brusque Snezhana. "Severus?"
Severus was staring at a shaking Katya and he then turned to face Snezhana.
"Damyan wished you to join us," Gellert's second gently reminded him. "Your experiences at the hands of both Dumbledore and the Upsurper have been quite cruel. I can assure you that you would be treated with both honor and respect if you joined our cause. Will you come with me?"
The witch gracefully extended her hand to Severus. In spite of his resolve not to show his emotions, he shuddered. Fortunately, there was a rumble beneath their feet, so it seemed that he responded to that, not in fear of the witch's dead eyes. After the trembling stopped, he had difficulty steadying himself and Minerva grasped Severus' arm to help balance him. Least that was what Severus was supposed to think, rather than the truth, that Minerva had no intention of letting him go. ANYWHERE.
"No," he rasped. "I'm dying. I'll be dead before September. I'd prefer to die among people I know."
The witch nodded her head once. "A shame, but Damyan feared that you would wish to remain here. Mistreat the dog long enough and he begins to presume it as his due. Albus? I have a message for you from my Brothers and Sisters."
She dramatically paused.
"You're back?" Albus wisecracked, ruining her moment of glory.
"We never left," she growled before she Disapparated.
"Bitch," Minerva quipped in the stillness of Snezhana's departure.
"Minerva, take Severus to Hogwarts. Have Poppy examine him," Albus quickly commanded. Time was of the essence, and he needed to think quickly and act faster to prevent a major calamity. But first, Minerva, Severus and the baby needed to get out of Manchester and to the safety of Hogwarts. "Filius, I need you here to help me stabilize Manchester. Horace? Sound the retreat, have Alastor report to me and help Minerva get Severus back to Hogwarts. When Alastor gets here, I need him to confirm if Gellert is still in prison. Meanwhile, Remus needs to be detoxed from the silver, Sirius seems to have gone around the bend, and somebody keep an eye on Harry. Get the students back to Hogwarts, put them in the Room of Requirement as they require a suitable detention. Someone needs to speak with Dora Tonks…carefully advise her of Remus' condition."
"He's not going to Hogwarts, Albus," Gawain Robards, the Head of the British Aurors Department insisted. He was firmly seconded by his sycophant John Dawlish as both men had just arrived at the scene. Naturally, they had delayed their arrivals until AFTER the big, bad Dark Wizards had left. "Severus Snape, you are hereby arrested for breaking your probation. You will be tried, and if found guilty, you will be sentenced to Azkaban. No doubt there will be additional charges filed as we unravel recent events and your involvement. Serge, your prisoner is a vital witness; you will not be allowed to take her off British soil. She will be taken to Azkaban where she will be held."
"No," Serge protested. "She's one of mine. I don't want her there."
"You have no choice in this matter." Gawain informed the Siberian. Serge's lined face grayed as Gawain bludgeoned him with the various international regulations that required Katya's immediate incarceration in Azkaban.
"I know all about your Azkaban," growled Serge. He put one thick finger into Gawain's face. "Anything happens to her there, and you will deal with me. I will provide a guard for her."
"Severus is not going to Azkaban," Albus inserted. "I will not permit it."
Once again, other people were fighting his battles for him.
It was time for Severus Snape to defend himself. He felt his child move within him and was overwhelmed by the need to protect her. Yes, he was frightened, but what choices did he have? Either way, he would be caged in a kennel but this way he had a choice on which kennel, which jailer.
"Actually," Severus curtailed the looming fight between Albus and Gawain with his outburst. "I much prefer Azkaban to a jolly holiday at Hogwarts. I'd like a cell near Katya, please."
Like he was reserving a room for a jolly seaside holiday. He smiled at Albus. Time to twist the knife in the bastard's kidneys. Twist it slowly. Savor the sweet sensation of puncturing Albus' pride…. Publicly, no less.
Albus blanched, and he whispered, "No."
"I asked you to help Katya. You couldn't be bothered, so no deal," hissed Severus. Then in a louder voice, he exclaimed, "With a choice between Dementors and Dumbledore, I find that I much prefer… "
He put his hands over his belly, to protect the child he prized more than anything else in the world.
Now, they'd be together until the very end. It would just be the two of them… no Albus…. just Severus and Ariana… together…It was right… and it was proper… because he loved her far more than Albus ever could.
"…Dementors."
Purple unicorns be damned.