Chapter Seventy-Five

The Twists and Turns of Tempting Fate

As the heavy coffin lid was slid away, Jennifer was trembling quite noticeably and breathing heavy enough to hear it. She was back in the Seer's tent, she realized, as Vough peered in with a mocking smile.

"Aw, having a bad time of it? A bit too close in there for you?" Vough inquired.

"Horrible fiendish strumpet..." Jennifer said, gritting her teeth.

"Ah ah ah, surely you can do better than that," Vough tsked, shaking a finger at her. "Besides, you have no room to talk, considering our agreement. Speaking of which, there is someone I would like you to meet. His name is Aster the clown, and I'm sure the two of you will become very intimate friends. Come on over, Aster," she said with a smile of delight, apparently quite entertained by the situation.

Aster was in full clown makeup, with two stars around his eyes, one red star and one blue one. His red nose was painting on rather than a false one, but even so, Jennifer had no idea who he was and couldn't read this thoughts, despite the open eagerness and slight surprise in his grey eyes.

"Oh, wow. It's really her," Aster said, reaching in to touch her skin to convince himself she was real. The flinch was real enough, as was the deep anxious fear in her green eyes. Then he noticed her ring, still on her finger despite being completely dipped in white makeup. "Yes, it's definitely her because she's still wearing her ring... wait. Why is she still wearing that thing? And why is she in a coffin?"

"The coffin dampens all magic to insure her safety, and the ring has spells on it that prevents it from coming off unless it's willing," Vough explained. "But just think of how much better it is that she chooses to keep it on. Then Severus will be able to plainly see just how much pleasure she's getting out of the experience when you have fun together." Jennifer touched her ring at that, but then realized with a frown that taking it off would be even worse if he thought she was dead.

"Yeah, you have a point," Aster said. "But I don't feel safe with her here in this circus tent when I know he's going to be coming for her any time now. I think we should go ahead and move her to that room I prepared for her. Besides, I'm certainly not going to do this while she's in a coffin, and she hates being in enclosed spaces."

"All the more demoralizing. It'll keep her in line," Vough said. "Speaking of which, did you bring the wine?"

"I did. Did you make the potion?" Aster asked.

"Of course," she said, showing it to him. "We should give them to her now, before I go speak to our guests."

"What? Do you mean he's here already?" Aster said with alarm.

"No, he's still busy counting all of his missing students and staff, but I predict that he'll be here presently. Still, there's no reason to be concerned, Aster. Everything is playing out exactly as I planned, and I am certain he will never find you," Vough reassured him. "Now, why don't you give her some of the wine?"

"Good idea," Aster said, stepping over to the table and getting out the bottle, drawing a glass. Jennifer couldn't read the bottle from that distance, but when she lifted her head slightly to look at it, she saw it was one of Wingard's labels.

When Aster came back over, she turned her head to the side warily.

"You think I'm trying to enchant you, don't you?" Aster said when he saw her reaction. "It's not like that. The wine's not going to make you think you're in love with me or anything," he explained calmly, holding up the glass. "All it does is help keep your body physically motivated enough so that we can complete our business transaction. In other words, it'll probably make this experience a lot easier on you, so if I were you, I'd just down it and get it over with."

"I commend your attempts at being diplomatic, Aster, but now is not the time for subtlety," Vough said briskly, stepping over and showing the potion bottle in her hand. "This is a potion made from a mixture of herbs and my distilled blood. It works on the same principle as the one Toby the Tinker has provided to some of his clients. But since I am a full blooded Sidhe, this one is all the more potent. This potion, therefore, insures that your 'transaction', as Aster calls it, works immediately. Without this insurance, you and your granddaughter will die at midnight regardless of the attempt. Do you understand?"

Jennifer nodded once, glancing at her only for a second before looking away again.

"Then understand that I won't give the potion to you until you've drank his wine, so you may as well just get it over with," Vough said.

Jennifer sighed silently and nodded once more, the clown handing her the cup. He brought his wandering hand out of the coffin long enough for her to drink it, afraid she might spill it from all of the flinching movements. As he took the glass away and set it aside, Vough gave her the potion bottle, which she downed and handed back with a look of both dread and disgust.

"There now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Vough said with a triumphant smile. "Perhaps we ought to put the lid back on now until we're ready to move her to the other location."

"Please don't," Jennifer pleaded softly, but then caught herself and looked away.

"Aw, how quaint. It seems that Jennifer is very much enjoying all of the attention you're giving her," Vough said. Jennifer suddenly darted an angry look at her, clenching her fists and looking away again.

"Well, I don't know about her, but I am definitely enjoying it," Aster said, leaning over and kissing her just below her ear when she refused to look at him. "Maybe leave it open just for a few more minutes?"

"Very well! But only a minute or two more, because I feel the time for my chat with her husband draws near. And won't he be devastated when he finds out his wife is not only out of his reach but enjoying the company of another man?" Vough said gleefully.

"He had his fair share of her. More than fair share, really," Aster said, brushing his hand against her skin to see if the wine had caused her to stopped flinching yet. "Now it's finally my turn."

When Severus and Boulderdash Apparated halfway up the mountain road, they were the only ones there. But it was mere seconds later before that changed as Aurors began to appear. By the time Harry, Doug, Owain, Jamie, and Tonks had appeared, Balderdash had come out of the shadows to stand on the other side of the Headmaster. Several Agents then appeared, including both Taylor and Danny, neither of them in Concealment Cloaks. Harry put a hand up after saying something to the other Aurors and walked up to Severus.

"I see we're not the only ones in the middle of a crisis this evening," Severus observed evenly.

"It's that Big Wheel ride... it's cursed," Harry explained. Severus squinted at that, then glanced over at where he could make out the top of the Wheel over the tents. "Everyone inside of it is forced to face their worst nightmares or they can't get off the ride, and from the sounds of it, they're the kind of nightmares that they can physically get hurt in. On top of that, there's all sorts of fail safes keeping us from stopping the ride. Alex took a couple of Agents over there a bit ago and found out that if they tried to shut it down early, it'll kill everyone on it. After that, a couple of them went in to rescue two of the people trapped inside. She sent one Agent back to find Doug and to get help. Markus Brim is trapped in the first car and it seems Corey got there first, because he's in there with him."

"Considering Alex sent someone else back with the message, I take it she went after someone as well," Severus said, sighing at her impulsiveness.

"They kidnapped Ben, Professor Snape," Taylor said. He stepped up behind Harry, who glanced over his shoulder to look at him. "She felt she had no choice." Severus pulled out his watch and saw that quite a number of the compass arrows were spinning rather than settling on any one place.

"I take it from my watch that Aurelius, Andrew, and Leu are in that thing as well... and probably Laura, considering the reason he disobeyed my orders at the castle was to go after her. Who else?" Severus asked.

"Sirius went in after Joey, and Pyther, Leu, and Dale are in carriages by themselves, but I don't know who's in the last carriage," Harry replied.

"Hardy said that a couple of the Maxen children are in the last one," Taylor replied. "But it sounded like they were just put in because they had an extra carriage, and Joey was only put in..."

"Because they couldn't get to Quintin," Severus finished. "They were attempting to get all eight."

"They also seemed to be numbered in the correct order," Taylor said. "Corey's in one, Alex is in two, all the way to four, which only has Pyther in it..."

"Here," Pyther said, sounding out of breath. Everyone spun around in surprise at the sight of him standing there, holding onto his side in pain from running and with a quickly bandaged hand.

"Pyther! Are you alright?" several called out as he came over, and he waved at them to give him a minute.

"Sorry, I ran up from Hogsmeade," Pyther explained. Severus glanced up and realized he had not come alone, because further down the hill, he could see Albus, Minerva, and Rosmerta running up. "I escaped. I used my blood to dr... well, there's a secret they still don't know about me yet, and I'd rather keep it that way. Let's just say I escaped in the usual way, but we need to get everyone off that Wheel as quickly as we possibly can. There are great deal of rumors about that Wheel spread around the circus..."

"Thank you, shut up. I don't want you in debt again. Balder?" Severus snapped curtly.

"There's a saying here; When the Wheel goes up, Burial Detail follows," Balder informed him. "Pyther is right. I don't know the details of the curse on that Wheel, but I do know that the longer they're on there, the more likely that someone is going to end up dead."

Heartless Hardy watched with interest as more people showed up to enter the Wheel... first it was Myrine Mohanan who had run up from Hogsmeade, and then Diana Murphy, who had been attempting to find Leu ever since he was kidnapped off the boat while she was diving.

Much to Hardy's surprise, not long after he had put Diana in the carriage, the Wheel went around full circle and the same carriage opened. Diana stepped out, dragging a very dazed Leu out by the arm.

"Oh well, win some, lose some," Hardy murmured to himself. "Speaking of which..." Hardy slammed the door shut and got it moving again, watching with interest to see who the first one to die was going to be. The carriages spun like a roulette wheel, and finally one stopped at the top. Hardy leaned over slightly to look at the number. It was number five... Pyther's carriage. Smiling at that, Hardy checked his watch, waiting for the carriages to start spinning again. But after the time ran out, he frowned, wondering what went wrong. He reached for the lever and coaxed Pyther's carriage down, but when he peered inside, Pyther wasn't there. That was odd... the carriage hadn't reset, despite not having a passenger in it. There had been some sort of malfunction, perhaps? "Apparently I'm going to have to have a talk with Hammerbite about getting this thing tuned up when this is over," Hardy said with a sigh, getting the carriages moving again.

After entering the carriage, Aurelius found himself forced into a dreamlike state that reminded him of the dreams that Ciardoth had sent them. The lessons his father had given him to control the circumstances dangerously real dreams came to the forefront of his mind; he was certain that, just like in Ciardoth's dreams, he could be physically injured in this one as well. But despite being prepared for the worst and ready to face his own betrayals, nothing appeared in the fog around him.

Suddenly he began to hear crying, and realized it was Viorica.

"Viorica?" he called out, hearing his voice echo strangely around him. He closed his eyes and concentrated on lifting the fog. When he opened his eyes again, he saw mirror images of Viorica, crumpled the floor with her face covered. Everything else was black, making the distance between the images hard to judge. The echo wasn't helping as well, he thought with frustration. But perhaps... he could use his Truth Seeking to some advantage?

"Viorica, can you hear me?" Aurelius asked, but apparently she didn't, because the image kept crying. "Sit up, Viorica!" he said, walking among the images with frustration. He searched for any small detail to help him tell them apart, touching each one as he got to them only to have his hands go through her head.

Finally she sat up and got out her handkerchief, giving Aurelius a clear view of her eyes. He glanced around furtively until he finally found the right one, quickly moving over to her and touching the top of her head, immediately getting a response. Sighing in relief, he sat down, putting an arm around her.

"I don't understand. What are you doing here? Are you here to take me back to my parents? Because I'm not going," Viorica said, becoming rigid and pulling away.

"You're dreaming, Viorica. We're not actually here," Aurelius explained. "We're in a cursed Big Wheel carriage at the circus. And even though these sorts of magical nightmares can be dangerous and yes, even life threatening, your greatest nightmare is about being abandoned because of who you are, and I'm not going to do that to you."

"But... I've lost all my magic. I know I don't belong here anymore. But I'm scared of going back..." Viorica explained.

"You're not going back," Aurelius said, giving her shoulder a firm squeeze. "Even if you did lose all of your magic, which you haven't, by the way, it wouldn't make any difference. There aren't any take backs in this family, no matter what you do and no matter what happens. Even if, ten or twenty years from now, you decide to get married and choose a different last name, you'll still be a Snape."

Viorica blinked and then stared at him.

"Ten or twenty years?" Viorica asked flatly.

"That woke you up," Aurelius chuckled, getting up and helping her to her feet.

Curiously enough, he began to feel movement, and instead of standing up, they were sitting down on the ride.

The carriage came to the stop, and the doors opened. Realizing now where they were, Aurelius quickly helped Viorica get her bar up and the two of them climbed out.

Aurelius helped her off the platform, glaring at Hardy.

"I hope you know that once everyone is out of there, you are definitely under arrest," Aurelius snapped at him, but Hardy wasn't paying attention.

"I'm sorry, all complaints must be filed in written form with Mr. Mirage," Hardy said distractedly. "If you don't mind, this ride seems to be malfunctioning, so I need to concentrate..." he said, watching as the carriages spun around again. Finally one locked into the top spot and Hardy studied it carefully, looking at his watch.

"What are you doing? What do you expect to happen?" Aurelius demanded.

But Hardy was still looking between the top carriage and his watch again. As usual, Aurelius was having a hard time reading him. Then he noticed some white makeup just visible around his cuff, traveling up his arm.

"Just what sort of charms is on that white makeup, anyway? How is it blocking me?" Aurelius asked.

"Really, can't you go somewhere else? Just a couple minutes more..." Hardy said distractedly.

"Until what?" Aurelius said.

"To find out if the Big Wheel is going to work properly," Hardy said impatiently. "Every time a carriage is emptied, the Big Wheel's curse sends a carriage to the top at random and one of the people inside it dies."

"What!" Aurelius said, a lump in his throat as he stared at the top carriage. On the side of the carriage was the number two. From somewhere he didn't see, a bell sounded, deep and ominous.

Alex had been quite frantic to find Ben, realizing from the moment she got there that she had no idea what Ben's worst nightmare even was. But when she arrived, she was in an empty cardboard box with writing on the side that told which side was up.

"Wow! I feel like a little kid again!" Alex said, impressed with the large box. But when Ben jumped and turned around, he seemed quite frightened to see her.

"What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here, it's dangerous! You should be outside this Wheel... doing your Mysteries thing!" Ben scolded her.

"What? I came in here to save you, of course," Alex said. Ben groaned.

"Couldn't you have found a way to save me outside of the trap?" Ben asked.

"No, because I thought you needed help! Because I didn't... well I wasn't sure what you're worst nightmare was and I wanted to protect you," Alex explained. Ben let out a long exasperated sigh as Alex glanced around. "So what is your nightmare? Are you claustrophobic too?" she wondered, trying to figure out if the computer box they were in was some sort of clue.

"No, Alex. My worst nightmare is the same one it's been for years... I'm afraid of losing you," Ben informed her. "Which is why I really don't want to see you here. What if that plays out somehow?" Alex sighed and sat down beside him.

"Do you know what my worst nightmare is?" Alex asked.

"Yes, it's someone dying because you made a major mistake at work," Ben said.

"Yeah," Alex said, then frowned. "I guess it's pretty bad that I didn't know what yours was, isn't it?"

"No, don't feel bad. I found yours out by reading the newspaper interview," Ben admitted.

"Yikes," Alex said with a grimace. "I guess we've kind of gotten a bit out of touch."

"Outside of the bedroom, anyway," Ben said, Alex rolling her eyes at that as Ben offered her a comforting arm. She leaned into him. "Look, you have a very important, very demanding job, and I've known that since we got back together, haven't I? I knew what I was getting into, even if it's been rough lately." Alex frowned.

"It has been? You've never mentioned it," Alex said.

"You're right, I haven't mentioned it," Ben agreed. "It's just that now that Rus is at West of Whitehall, there's not much to do at home, especially when the only way I can even keep track of when you're coming home at all is through phone messages. I like spending time at Whitebridge and going out with the guys, but that's only once a week... I bet those three are worried sick by now, wondering what happened to me."

"I'm glad you made some friends, Ben," Alex said. "And you know, I'm also very, very glad you came back and gave me a second chance when I screwed up." Ben smiled at that, giving her a quick kiss.

"Me too," Ben said. "It may be rough at times, but I've enjoyed every extra minute we've spent together since then... putting together the house, taking the boys out on 'Muggle outings' as you call them. I can't say it's been dull either, except... well, I've always had a hard time feeling as if I'm pulling my own weight."

"What? Of course you are! You've practically raised the boys yourself, and taken care of the house as well as your hybrid computer job... well... not that we have those hybrids anymore, really... except at Whitebridge, of course... and the BELA computer..."

"Don't try to stretch it out, Alex, it isn't helping," Ben chuckled. "It's okay, don't worry about it."

"Or course I worry about it! I want you to be happy too! Maybe you just need to do something new? Oh, I know! You could go back to college! We have more than enough money to handle fees and tuition now..."

"Save it for the boys, Alex," Ben recommended. "Besides, how long do you think it'd take Bagman and his men to figure out where I was if I went to a regular college, anyway? I don't think you'd want to clean up a full blown spy war in the middle of a college setting."

"Yeah, I guess you have a point," Alex said. "In any case, this really isn't the time or place for that, is it? We've got to find a way to get you to face your fear so we can get off this ride."

"Considering what that fear is, I'd very much rather we don't face it, Alex, especially if this nightmare thing turns out to be more real than not," Ben said firmly.

"There is a possibility of that," Alex admitted reluctantly.

"I know, I remember what Ciardoth could do," Ben said. "Maybe we'll just have to wait until someone else figures out how to get us off in one piece?"

"Yeah. As much as I hate to admit it, it sounds like the safest option under the circumstances," Alex agreed.

Suddenly she felt extremely dizzy, putting a hand to her head. She looked over and saw that Ben was doing the same thing.

"Oh, you too?" Alex said.

"Yeah," Ben said, looking around. Suddenly, there was a strange voice that neither of them recognized.

In five minutes, one of you will die. Choose who it will be.

Alex jumped up with her wand in her hand, waiting for something else to happen.

"Subtle," Ben commented.

"This is some sort of test... your nightmare. Maybe it's the manifestation of that," Alex said.

"That sounds reasonable," Ben agreed.

"In which case, we should probably pick me, so that you can get over your fear," Alex deduced.

"Hell no," Ben replied firmly. "It's not going to happen, Alex. What if you're wrong and this isn't some sort of test? Your job is way, way too important for you to die over something like this."

"I don't care about my job!" Alex exclaimed. Ben stared at her critically. "Okay, I do care, but not as much as I care about you! I love you, you're my life!" Ben smiled at that, holding her tight.

"I don't want to lose you either. And since we both feel like that, we have to find another way to decide," he said.

Choose who will die.

"Is it just me, or is it getting more insistent?" Ben murmured.

"Well, if we have to decide, it should be me, because... you need to be here for the boys," Alex said. "Family first, and they connect to you better. They barely know me. If one of us dies, they'll need the extra support."

"Playing the family card, Alex?" Ben asked critically. "Don't you think your family will pitch in if needed? And being Minister of Mysteries, you do so much to keep your whole family safe every day. I bet in a lot of ways they don't even know about. What about your little brother? Doesn't he need you, considering what he's been doing lately?"

Alex stared at him.

"How in the hell do you know about that?" Alex asked.

"I might have run into him once or twice. Well, actually, he kept running into me..."

"He is such a headache! I've had to write up more incident reports on him than any other Agent... wait. You didn't hear that," Alex said.

Choose who will die. This is your last warning.

"I don't think it's going to matter, Alex," Ben admitted. "I love you," he added, trying to stand up. She grabbed his arm.

"Wait! What are you doing? I'm not letting you do what you're trying to do!" Alex hissed.

"I don't think it's going to give us much more time to argue about this, Alex. So do me a favor and say I love you back," Ben said firmly.

"Of course I love you! I've loved you since we were kids! And that's why I'm not letting you go now! There's got to be a loophole somewhere! There's always a loophole!" Alex said firmly.

"There isn't always a loophole, Alex," Ben said.

Choice undecided. Goodbye.

The two of them looked up warily as the air became cloudier and cloudier. In a panic, Alex attempted a clear air spell, but it only seemed to make the gas spin in circles rather than dissipate it.

"What's wrong?" Ben coughed, and Alex found herself choking as well.

"I think it's because we're in a sealed container of some kind... we've got to figure out what sort of potion this is quick so we can figure out what antidote to use," Alex coughed, getting dizzy as she reached for her cloak.

"Get down low! Here, let me help!" Ben insisted, having a hard time breathing as he reached in her cloak for the first gaseous antidote he could find and threw it against the wall. But it bounced off the cardboard and veered away, hitting the other side before finally opening. Even so, the cloud of gas began to fade in the corner. "I think... I think it might be working! It just needs time! Alex?" he rasped, turning to see her lying still. "Alex! You can't do this!" he shouted at her. "Too many people need you! Please! It'll work, it just needs..." Ben paused, glancing in her cloak again. "Time. I'll give you time. Forgive me," he said, pulling out the Elixir of Life and forcing her to drink it.

He was relieved when she coughed... she wouldn't have coughed if she wasn't still alive. Hopefully... it was enough...

"I...Alex." Ben murmured, unable to get out anything else as he succumbed to the poison. Slowly the room began to clear and Alex coughed, still unconscious.

"Ah, good! It's working again. Someone didn't make it," Hardy said cheerfully. As Aurelius turned around and took out his wand, Hardy simply wagged a finger. "Ah, ah, ah. If I die, they all die," Hardy reminded him. Shaking with a mix of anger, terror, and restraint, Aurelius sleeved his wand and handed Viorica a Portkey to whisk her to safety. Then he pulled out his contact mirror.

"Get Dad quick!" Aurelius shouted at his mirror worriedly.

"Aurelius?" Severus answered after a moment.

"Dad! Check Alex! Is her hand stuck on Mortal Peril?" Aurelius asked frantically.

"No, it's still spinning in circles, but yours isn't. I take it you're out of that thing," Severus said. Albus walked over to Severus.

"Yes, but apparently any time the people in a carriage get out safe, someone else's carriage randomly gets sent to the top and one of the passenger's dies," Aurelius said.

"Assuming everyone in the carriage isn't already dead," Hardy offered for good measure.

"You have no idea how badly I'd love to end your life right now!" Aurelius shouted at Hardy.

"Aurelius, calm down!" Severus snapped. "I know things are bad but they won't be made better by you losing your cool! Is there any way we can warn those who are still on the Wheel not to come off of it?"

"I don't know how! We were stuck in our own nightmare until we stepped out. I doubt they'd hear anyone outside of it," Aurelius said. Severus glanced at Albus.

"As it so happens, there's someone here who may be able to help..." Severus began.

"Professor Snape!" Severus looked over as TJ and Elliot pushed through the crowd to get to them. "You've got to help, please!" TJ begged. "They've got all of the students they've captured tied up in the carnival games and there are a bunch of clowns there, torturing them! You've got to come right away!"

Severus gazed at her fixedly, forcing himself not to show just how overwhelmed he was getting in that moment. He was very much wanting to create a temporal bubble to give himself some time to think, especially as more and more people seemed to be coming up from the road every second, including some worried parents. A team of LE officers Apparated in, and everyone from Worley Maxen to Thatcher Boltin seemed to be looking at Severus expectantly.

"Ah! What an impressive crowd!" came the voice of someone behind him. Severus turned back around to see Mr. Mirage standing there, dressed in his top hat and his best striped jacket as if ready for the show. Standing to the left of him, blocking the quickest way to the carnival, was an enormous Clockwork Chimera, while to the right was a giant Clockwork Hydra, cutting off the easiest way to the bigtop and the side shows. "Why, the crowd is almost as large as how many came to our last show this evening."

"Yes, what of that, Mr. Mirage?" Thatcher suddenly put in. "Gary March informed me that they've been getting a lot of Owls from worried family members saying that members in their family didn't come home from the circus and they're concerned that there's something going dodgy going on up here."

"Now they're concerned?" Harry asked flatly.

"Nobody's ever concerned around here until it affects them personally," Doug said angrily.

"I'm so sorry, but I'm really not interested in talking to the flock," Mirage said. "This parlay is for Severus alone. If any of the rest of you attempt anything, I will not only send these fine beasts after you, but I am going to start killing hostages."

"As I understand it, you already have begun," Severus said evenly.

"Hostages that matter, then," Mirage corrected. "Come, my mistress. I believe you have something to say as well," he said, gesturing to the tent.

"So I have," Lady Vough came out of the tent to stand near Mirage.

"Oh, so it's you. That does explain a lot," Severus said immediately, taking a couple of steps in front of the crowd. "You may as well take off that silly red veil, Green Lady, it really doesn't hide who you are to those who really know you."

"Very well, I suppose you're right," she said, and it faded away with a mere gesture. "It seems you're in a bit of a dilemma, aren't you Severus?"

"Am I?" Severus said dubiously.

"Are you numb from shock? Or has it not hit you yet?" the Green Lady taunted him. "Several of your children are about to die a horrible death, lost in their own nightmares. Dozens of your dear, Hogwarts students are being put through ordeals that will traumatize them for the rest of their lives, and while you can save them, it won't be without internal scarring, thanks to your failure to protect them. And last but not least, your dearest wife has left you for this circus and is even now spending time with another man, who will most certainly conceive a child with her before the night is over. In fact, it's quite impossible for you to stop it at this point, even if you were foolish enough to turn away from your other responsibilities and attempt it," she added. Harry glanced at Severus worriedly.

"I am well aware of it," Severus admitted.

"And with a child damned to the circus, I'm sure Jennifer will want to stay even after it is born. You are unlikely ever to see her again. She is already lost to you, Severus, and if you don't do something quickly, all of your children will be lost to you as well. And I seriously doubt that anyone will want you to keep being the Headmaster of Hogwarts after allowing so many students to be kidnapped and tortured. Everything you have ever cared for or lived for is about to be destroyed, regardless of your actions. No matter which path you take, no matter how you choose to respond, anything you attempt to do to save them will insure your worst Fate. So tell me, Severus, just what are you going to do?" the Green Lady challenged him viciously.

"I'm sorry, did you say something to me? I really wasn't paying much attention," Severus admitted. The Green Lady blinked in disbelief. "Albus, if you don't mind, could you take a group over to the Wheel and warn the riders about not leaving the carriages and perhaps work on a countercurse to get them out of there? If anyone leaves the Wheel, someone in the top carriage dies."

"Right away, Severus," Albus agreed, glancing around for volunteers to go with him before heading around the perimeter in that direction.

"Dash brothers, why don't you show Worley and the Aurors how to get to the carnival? I'm sure your knowledge of those curses will help the students escape," Severus suggested.

"Yes, Severus," they said, and began escorting them in the other direction.

"Wait..." Harry said. "Severus, I know you don't think we can get to Jennifer in time, but let me and Aurelius try, at least," he insisted.

"Very well," Severus replied. He took the spare watch out of his cloak and handed it to Harry, who then ran off to find Aurelius. Severus turned back to Mirage. "Now then, with that sorted, I think it's high time you and I have a discussion about the direction you're taking this circus, Mirage..."

"How dare you ignore me!" the Green Lady shrieked angrily. Severus sighed with exasperation.

"Lady Glaistig, even if I wanted to confront you over what you've done to Jennifer and your attempt to entrap me into my worst possible Fate, I am not about to get into a Wizard's Duel with a pregnant mother of any race," Severus said bluntly. "While the two of you have been rambling on, I realized that I have another option, rather than the three paths you attempted to ensnare me with. I will instead take the fourth path, and choose to save the circus employees from the conditional curses that enslave them. My fate, then, is not tied to you at all, Lady Glaistig, it rests with Mr. Mirage. Your fate likely rests with Lady Viviane, who is probably quite livid that members of the Black family were drawn into this mess. Good luck with that; I wouldn't be wagering on you winning that confrontation, considering you broke an Agreement with her."

The Green Lady glared at him furiously, storming back to her wagon. Even if he had chosen to take a different path, she knew she would still get her vengeance through Jennifer. When she noticed that the bell curtains had been moved aside and Harry and Aurelius were trying to figure out how to open the door, she simply moved the door itself and walked to another wagon, leaving them both staring at the doorless wall with frustration while she entered from a different location.

Aster looked up from where he sat next to the coffin with one hand on still on Jennifer. Despite her resolute expression and refusal to look at him, she was beginning to tolerate his touch as the wine took hold.

"There you are. I kept hearing weird noises at the door like someone was trying to get in," Aster said.

"They wouldn't have succeeded no matter what they tried," the Green Lady told him. "Now, let's put that lid on her and move her into that room of yours."

"Gladly," Aster said eagerly, helping by putting Jennifer's hands down when she tried to stop the coffin lid from going on. The Green Lady waved her hand over it, and the coffin disappeared.

"There, it's done," the Green Lady said. "Now go and finish the job... and don't be gentle," she added for good measure, wanting Severus to pay as much as possible for brushing her off like that.

"I hadn't planned on it," Aster admitted before Disapparating.

Eben Maxen walked over to the lake, unsurprised to see his sister sitting next to it with a frown.

"I don't get it," Mari said flatly.

"You don't get what?" Eben asked, sitting down.

"When he threw us in here, that guy said we had to deal with our worst nightmare, and yet I've been sitting by this lake this whole time and there's nothing scary about it," Mari said.

"I know why we're here," Eben said. "This is the lake our mother and brother drowned in."

"Oh, yeah. I recognize it now," Mari said. "So if that's the nightmare, why aren't we seeing it?"

"It's a memory, and you're blocking it," Eben explained. "You've been blocking it since we were little. But I think... we're not going to get out of here unless you stop blocking it."

"Well... I don't think we need to go there. I think we should just wait. Father will come and rescue us eventually," Mari decided.

"Mari, are you loyal to Father because you believe in him, or because you're frightened of him?" Eben asked seriously.

"What does that mean? Don't you feel Father is going to come for us?" Mari asked.

"Yes, probably, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't turn on us if he felt he needed to. I think that's the real reason you're loyal to him. Deep down, you know he's capable of turning on us, and you don't want to push your luck," Eben said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Mari said.

"Yeah, I know. And I'm sorry," Eben said.

"Sorry for what?" Mari frowned.

"I'm sorry that I'm going to make you face what you've been denying," Eben said, and pointed her towards the lake.

Mari looked out at the lake, feeling very strange as he saw a younger version of her father, their beautiful mother, and brother Sean out on a rowboat, drifting peacefully on the lake. It was nicer than she remembered; she had always thought it had happened on rougher seas before a storm... but in truth, there were few clouds in the sky, and the water was so clear that the young boy seemed interested in the edge, despite his mother's attempts of keeping him away from it.

Their father pointed something out in the water, and the boy ran over to look. It only took a subtle wave for Worley to nudge him into the water, then pointed at the oars to row away from him. Their mother jumped up angrily and the two of them began shouting at each other until their mother dove in to save the boy. But as she swam over, their father brought out his wand and cast a petrifying spell on them and they sank. Giving them no more than a cursory look, Worley shook his head and rowed the boat away.

Mari looked down and found a flower in her hand. Suddenly the tears came, and she began to cry uncontrollably.

"We were gathering wildflowers along the edge of the lake when it happened. We both saw the whole thing and... we were afraid... we were afraid we were going to be next," Eben explained. "I began blocking off my thoughts with my ability, and you pretended you hadn't seen anything. You were over there picking flowers. You didn't know about it until afterwards... it was a rough day. It was just an accident, because she was trying to save our brother," Eben said. "Well, that part is true. She was trying to save Sean. And the reason our father had planned to drown him in the lake was because he was born without magic and he didn't want the stain of that on our family. When our mother went after him, he made sure she would drown too, petrified and unable to cast magic to save herself. Perhaps if she'd not gone after Sean, she'd have lived a bit longer, but what sort of life would that have been? I doubt it'd have been long before Father wanted to get rid of her again. But Father, as you know, never makes the same mistake twice. That's why he chose someone weak minded as a mother for our siblings."

"Stop! Stop! Just, stop!" Mari shouted at him.

"I can't! You have to deal with this," Eben said firmly.

"No! I can't! He'll kill us!" Mari snapped. "He'll kill us both! I... I don't want to know this! He'll know I know!"

"No, he won't. I'll protect both of our thoughts now," Eben said firmly. "Don't worry, it'll work. I'm sure of it. If Aurelius can do it, I can too. Our abilities are similar, you know."

Mari frowned.

"Eben, you're not going to tell Aurelius Snape, are you? You can't tell anyone about this! Father will find out..."

"Yes. Yes, I'm sure he would," Eben agreed. "Of course I'm not telling. It's a family secret, and we're both living under our father's roof and have to obey his rules. And if we did anything other than what he wants..."

"Yes," Mari said somberly.

"Maybe someday when we're adults, we'll be ready to talk to someone about this. But until then, you have me. You always have had me, you know. Even if we don't always agree on things. Even if you follow Father...well... just a bit too close sometimes. I understand why you do," Eben said.

Sobbing softly again and unable to hold it back, Mari reached out and hugged her brother. Eben returned it warmly and smiled, closing his eyes and hoping she would feel the strength of his thoughts, protecting them.

The two of them heard a strange creaking noise and looked up in surprise to see they were in a Big Wheel carriage once more, coming down to a stop.

"You did it, Mari," Eben said with a proud smile. "Our secret."

"Always," Mari agreed with a weak smile of her own, and the two of them pushed up on the bar and came out while Hardy looked over at them thoughtfully.

"Wait! Stop!" Albus called out, and the two of them looked up in confusion as Albus, Minerva, Rosmerta, Taylor, Doug, Danny, and Pyther rushed over.

"How in the heck did you get out of there?" Hardy asked Pyther curiously.

"Never mind that! Any carriers with only one passenger?" Pyther asked.

"Nope," Hardy replied, then brightened. "Ah! Let's see who's next!"

"Mari, Eben, come over here with me," Danny coaxed, and the two Maxens came back to where she was standing.

"What's going on?" Eben wondered, following everyone's gaze to the rapidly spinning Wheel. As a carriage locked in the top, there was a series of gasps.

"Oh, no! It's Laura and Andrew!" Pyther said in a panic. "One of them will be dead in five minutes!"

"But what can we do?" Danny asked worriedly.

"I have an idea. Be right back," Albus said, and suddenly closed his eyes. Realizing now what he meant by 'be right back,' Minerva quickly formed a chair out of the planks on the ground and Rosmerta jumped in to help support Albus and get him into the chair.

Andrew and Laura had been on top of the Demon Court's main hill, back to back with their wands out and a pile of dead, transfigured demons were encircling them from every direction.

In five minutes, one of you will die. Choose who it will be.

"What in craters was that?" Andrew asked.

"I don't know! It sure as hell didn't sound like Lilith!" Laura said.

"No, we killed her ten minutes ago," Andrew pointed out.

"We're in a nightmare. She could come back," Laura replied.

"I kind of wonder if it's something outside the nightmare somehow, because it doesn't really fit with what we're doing," Andrew said, turning another demon into an oversized chick.

ANDREW!

The two of them looked around.

"Okay, that voice was different. It sounded like Albus," Andrew said.

"Look!" Laura said, pointing towards a ghostlike figure in the air. Despite his ghostly form that reminded Laura of something that looked disturbingly like Peeves, the head, hat, and shoulders of the ghosts figure was most definitely Dumbledore.

"Albus? Is that actually you? You look strange," Andrew said.

"It is the nightmare distorting it," Albus replied. "But there is no time. The two of you are in grave danger! In less than five minutes, a death curse will strike and take one of your lives."

"Wait. Is that what it meant by asking us to choose?" Laura said.

"I don't want either one of us to die! Not after all of this wedding planning!" Andrew protested, and Laura rolled her eyes at that.

"You may not have to," Albus said. "Do either of you know Cosmic Sleep? If you put it on the person you have chosen to take the death curse, it may be powerful enough to prevent it from taking hold."

"May be?" Laura repeated.

"I'm sorry, but there's not enough time for another plan. You must attempt it!" Albus insisted.

Choose who will die.

"Fine. Do you know it, Miss Defense Professor?" Andrew asked.

"Well, yes, but..."

"No buts! It's going to be me, and please don't go on about my doing it just because you're a girl again, either!" Andrew snapped. "I'm doing it because I love you and a choice has to be made. Besides, if Albus is around, so is my family. Even if Albus doesn't sense my death, they'll have watches a plenty to find out if something went wrong."

"Don't worry, Andrew, I'll be focused on you," Albus promised, despite fading out of view.

"Okay, do it," Andrew said.

"Wait! What if I have to carry you out of here while you're still asleep? Maybe you should be in squirrel form to be safe," Laura said.

"Do you really want to kiss a squirrel?" Andrew said skeptically.

"Over trying to get your tall arse out of that tiny carriage, I sure do," Laura said.

"Fine," Andrew said, taking his squirrel form.

"We choose Andrew!" she said clearly, leveling her wand and casting at him. The white light him him just before the bell tolled, and the squirrel fell over in an unnatural pose. As the bell stopped, she picked up the squirrel. She became very, very still as she held him up to her face. After she waited a very long time, she thought she might have detected a faint breath. But what if she imagined it? What if it hadn't worked? Terribly worried that it hadn't, she 'accidentally' slipped several drops of Elixir in his mouth... just for insurance.

Down below, Albus finally opened his eyes with a thin, relieved smile.

"Well?" Minerva asked.

"I think my plan worked," Albus said, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "I am going to go send messages to the other carriages and let them know that under no circumstances are they to leave the carriage until we've found a way to get everyone safely out of there."

It was just as Albus was trying to get comfortable again that he felt a strange wave of magic pass through. Then they heard a strange screeching noise and looked over at the Wheel to see that Hardy was slumped over the controls.

"Someone grab that lever! Quick, before it stops completely!" Albus warned.

As Pyther and Taylor raced over, they were both surprised when a burly wizard ran out from the opposite side of the wheel, grabbing and pulling Hardy off of the lever before taking over the controls.

"Don't worry, I've got it! I know what I'm doing," Jack Cade informed them. "They don't call me Mr. Jack for nothing, you know. I've had just about every part time job you can think of, including working carnivals."

"Did you kill Hardy, Mr. Jack?" Pyther asked the bus driver fixedly.

"Sorry, didn't have the pleasure. He does look dead, though, doesn't he?" Jack agreed after a quick glance. "Never mind that, how about a deal? I'll help you keep this thing going at the slowest pace as it can maintain, and you find a way to get them the hell out of there... starting with Mr. Willowby and his nephew, if you please," he added firmly.

"Very well," Pyther said, turning his attention back to the Wheel.

"I'm going to get these two students to the evacuation location and I'll be right back to help," Danny said.

"I'm sure the Craws will be happy to look after two more," Mr. Jack said unconcernedly.

Danny grimaced at the fact he knew that information already, then left with Mari and Eben.

The contemptible clowns having fun in the carnival suddenly found their games disrupted as the Dasher twins, Worley, and a slew of Aurors raced in to rescue the students. Hope put her fist against the jaw of the clown running the dart game and untied her brother and Chris, handing them a couple of spare wands out of her cloak before racing to join Tonks at the water guns. Mike zoomed by on his broom, putting a containment field around the area to try and keep those inside from escaping. The Dasher twins cleared the central potion bottles booth and began tying up and stuffing anyone they caught inside it while still dodging a fair number of clowns still on the loose.

Worley had quickly rescued Cadha and Culver, ordering both the clown running the game and the clown that had been playing it to dunk their heads in the water barrels, mentally forcing them to keep their heads underwater a little longer each time until they began pleading for him to stop. They got so loud that Mike flew over to see what was going on.

"Mr. Maxen?" Mike said, glancing at the two wet children. They were shivering but also wearing expressions of deep satisfaction at their father's choice of punishment. "As much as I understand and appreciate your form of justice considering what they just did, I think it's time you let me arrest them. I wouldn't want to have to arrest you too under the circumstances." Worley glanced at the Auror in annoyance.

Then Worley forced the clowns to dunk their heads in one last time... long enough that Mike began wondering if he was going to have to intervene. But finally they were able to pull their heads up again, still sobbing and pleading as they were forced to walked to walk over and kneel at Mike's feet, holding their hands in the air helpfully.

"Thanks," Mike said, making a note to himself to keep working on his mental defense skills as he cuffed the two clowns.

"Let's go find the others," Worley told the twins.

"I think they put Moira and Bonnibel in the duck pond," Cadha said. "But I don't sense Mari and Eben in the area."

"No, neither do I," Worley agreed. They walked to the Duck Pond where Owain stood, taking out each wooden duck and restoring the children one by one.

Suddenly, a wave of magic pulsed through and a several of the clowns fell over. Some of them had still been fighting capture, while others had been in the Dash Brothers' holding pen. One even fell off of where he had been hiding on the roof of the candy floss booth, and another, the one who had been running the Waltzer, slumped over onto his podium.

"What was that? It felt like a curse of some kind," Owain asked, glancing at Worley.

"Well, it wasn't mine," Worley said calmly. "If it had been mine, they'd all be dead."

"Look out!" Owain warned.

Worley, Mike, and several others pointed their wands in the direction they had heard metal wings. A giant mechanical Stymphalian landed, fierce and threatening as if he was about to tear them apart. But before anyone had time to get off more than one spell, the beast collapsed into a heap of metal plates.

"What was that all about?" Hope asked, baffled.

It had begun long before Severus had arrived on the road, as the rescuers were gathering to Apparate over to the road below the circus. Tolliver and Penwiggle went through the entire pen, loosening all of the knees and ankles of every large beast they could, knowing they didn't have the time it would take to completely dismantle them. Penwiggle did most of the work, while Tolliver ran around the camp grabbing miscellaneous scrap metal from everywhere he could find, from broken rigs and equipment to metal axles. After talking to Cookie, he even borrowed some pots, pans, and lids off of old warming pans. As they worked feverishly on their project, Belinda finally hurried in with Cookie right behind her.

"We've gathered everyone we thought we could trust, Tolly. What's the next step?" Belinda asked.

"Getting that makeup off," Tolly said from the top of a ladder, pointing at a large crate on the other side of the room with Sprinter's alchemist mark on it. "Give everyone one of those makeup removal creams as quickly as you can, then find a place to assemble them."

"Where did you get all of this?" Belinda asked with amazement, grabbing one for herself and heaving the the crate on her shoulder.

"Do we really have to take all of it off?" Cookie asked reluctantly.

"I'm pretty sure it's cursed just like everything else around here is," Tolly said. "As to where I got it, some guy in a brown cloak dashed in here as we were sabotaging the giant clockworks and told me to give one to anyone that's worth saving. Personally, I think everyone's worth saving, but I think he meant specifically those of us trying to stop things from getting worse."

"Let's meet in the Debt Exchange. It's on the far side of the camp and nobody will be expecting anyone to be in there, especially with that chaos outside," Cookie suggested.

"Good idea. Let's get on it, we don't have much time," Tolly said, getting back to his welding.

Severus watched calmly as people scrambled around him. Albus and his team had just dashed to his left to get to the Big Wheel, while the Dasher brothers, Worley, and the Aurors were running around the perimeter to his right. It wasn't long they faded out of sight that Thatcher and his Enforcers made a move as if they were planning to sidestep Mirage and Severus and head into the bigtop to rescue the spectators.

"Anyone who enters that tent will be ripped to shreds by my Clockwork pets!" Mirage snapped at them. But Thatcher ignored him, leading his team in while dodging the sluggish attempts that the hydra heads to stop them. "Don't just stand there! Go after them!" he snapped at the two clockwork beasts.

But the moment the giant clockworks tried to turn around and follow Mirage's orders, the loosened joints gave, and both the Hydra and Chimera toppled over, their heads desperately lashing out in an attempt to keeping attacking the intruders.

It didn't take long for the Enforcers to figure out what the range of their heads were. Some of them launched spells of rust of ice and even ropes and nets as they dove past and into the tent. Mirage stared at the clockworks in disbelief, then noticed that both of them had missing gears and cables.

"Treachery. TREACHERY!" Mirage shouted at the top of his lungs, Severus smiling thinly at that. "I will not stand for it! You will pay... you will all pay! DECIMATE!" Mirage tapped the ground with his cane.

Severus felt the pulse of a massive curse sweep through the area, followed by an unsettling shift. Surprised exclamations then rang out from all areas of the circus grounds, but nothing else seemed to happen.

"I take it you meant that literally," Severus said evenly.

"Oh, yes. I just killed one tenth of everyone in this circus wearing my special clown makeup," Mirage said viciously. "Do you suppose your wife was one of them?"

Severus quickly checked his ring, forcing himself not to react to the strange mix of terror and arousal he had seen, realizing they must have potioned her in some way.

"She's fine, thank you," Severus replied acidly. "But what you did just now was quite foolish! If there are people in your circus who have turned against you, I'm quite certain that they've already taken off that nasty makeup by now. All you ended up doing was murdering people who are still loyal to you!"

"Nonsense, Severus, they wouldn't have had the time. That makeup isn't easy to get off," Mirage replied unconcernedly.

"Fortunately for them, due to previous experience with a similar product, our alchemists have learned very efficient ways of getting cursed makeup off... using my wife's formula, as a matter of fact," Severus informed him.

"Perhaps, but being that your wife has no choice in the matter, I'm also certain that she still has it on," Mirage pointed out. "Shall I cast it again? I'll gladly see how many times it will take before her luck runs out."

"Don't cast that again!" the Green Lady snapped as she stormed into view, having to step over several hydra heads to do it. "Mirage, are you mad? You can't kill her now, especially not by sudden death! Having her defiled is far worse than killing her, and far, far more damaging to him. You really don't know much about how humans think, do you?" she said.

Severus resisted the urge to look at his ring again, trying to maintain his calm appearance.

"Neither do you, Lady Glastig," came the unmistakable voice of Lady Viviane, who suddenly appeared out of the shadows.

Aster slid the coffin open and smiled, watching as Jennifer blinked a few times to get used to the light level. He too, it seemed, had been dipped in clown white from head to toe.

"Let's get you out of there," Aster said, offering his hand and then an arm to help her out of the coffin.

She stepped into a stark, whitewashed room with a very strange mix of furniture. Some of the furniture came from different cultures and there were others whose origins were a mystery, and a couple of them reminded her of modified torture devices. Frowning worriedly at that, she also couldn't see any doors to speak of. It must have been hidden among the padded panels on the wall, making her wonder which one it was.

"Do you like the room? It's going to be your room now," Aster informed her with a smile. "I've been working on it for years... adding to it, perfecting it, and just waiting for an opportunity to fill it. And now you're finally here at last," he said incredulously. Then he glanced at her and noticed that she was still frowning at the coffin she came out of. "Here, let's get rid of this thing. We won't be needing it," he added, sliding the coffin lid back on it and sending it away. "Besides, it kind of ruins the effect, doesn't it?"

"There's no clock," Jennifer murmured quietly, wondering how much time they had left.

"Oh, yes, you have a point. I guess I never thought it was going to need one," Aster admitted. "Typically this sort of thing takes as long as it needs to take. But since we don't know how long it is to midnight... maybe we should just go ahead and get started," he suggested.

Aster led her to the side of the bed, then turned and kissed her, gently at first and then a lot more insistently as he held her close. As pulled away from the kiss, she had tears streaming down her cheeks, and after meeting his eyes briefly, she turned away again.

"It's okay if you want to cry. I know this wasn't your idea," Aster told her quietly. "Feel whatever it is you want to feel, I'd never want you to hold back. You can even try taking your mind to a happy place to get through it, whatever it takes, alright?" Jennifer nodded at that. "Good," he said with a thin smile, kissing her more passionately as he leaned her back onto the bed. Then he slid his hand up her arm, gently coaxing it away from her body and above her head.

Suddenly, Jennifer felt something heavy around her wrist and jerked her arm out of surprise, staring up at the cuff around her wrist.

"What are you doing?" Jennifer asked with alarm, a wave of terror overtaking her resignation. "What are you doing? Why did you put that on me? I was cooperating! You don't need that!" she protested.

"Yes, I know you've been cooperating, but I want to make sure that you keep cooperating," Aster explained with a revealing smile. "You never know... you might change your mind after the fun starts, and we can't have that. Besides, after I've thoroughly explored what it's like to make love to the wife of Severus Snape, I was thinking that I could help you get over the experience by making you forget all of that. And since you also won't remember why you're here at that point, it's important to have you restrained by then. I want the very first thing you remember to be me, and from that moment on, all you'll ever know is me and what I do to you in this room," he murmured to her, easily able to pull her other arm away from her and force it up to where the other iron cuff was waiting for it.

But the moment he snapped it around her wrist, his body suddenly landed on the bed as she disappeared from underneath him. He blinked in bewilderment, wondering what had happened until he noticed that the cuff he had clasped around her second wrist was also gone.

"No..." Aster said in immediate dismay, feeling the sheets almost as if expecting her to still be there in hiding. "I had her! Craters! I had her, she was here! It was her, it had to have been!" he shouted angrily, tearing at the bed in frustration. "Where the hell is she? How in the hell did anyone get a Portkey in here? How in the hell did they know? Oh. Shit," he said as realization set in. "They know."

Aster scrambled out of the bed in terror, releasing the hidden door and throwing on a robe so that he could make a run for it while he had the chance.

Severus glanced over at his aunt expectantly, folding his arms calmly but with his wand still in his hand.

"I thought you and I had an understanding that you would not involve my family in this in any way," Lady Viviane told the Green Lady sternly. "I may have stayed out of your manipulation of Jennifer's fate because of a previous agreement I made. I may have even decided to take the indirect approach when it came to your attempts at manipulating Severus' fate by keeping him apprised of those attempts and warning him of it. But that was before this circus decided to allow Sirius and his grandson to get stuck in one of your nasty traps. You have now crossed the line."

"I had nothing to do with that!" the Green Lady snapped.

"Irrelevant, Glastig, my wishes were quite clear. Meet me above my house... and bring your children. The consequences of breaking our Agreement was just as plain," Viviane said dangerously. "You will be returned at once." There was a rumble of thunder in the distance.

Still clenching her fists in fury, the Green Lady faded as Viviane sent her away.

"As for you, Severus, you still have a nasty mess to clean up, and I expect you to do it without further interference from me," Viviane informed him sternly. "And put that silly stick away!"

"Yes, Aunt Viviane," Severus replied, sleeving his wand.

"Oh, and one last thing... that wife of yours. She's yet again cheated her way out of another trial. Really, it's getting quite old!" Viviane added with obvious irritation. A glimmer of hope rose to the surface of Severus' dark eyes.

"Sorry," Severus replied, despite not being in the least bit sorry. He glanced down just long enough to see that his ring's harsh colors had muted into grey tones of agitation and distress. Viviane nodded curtly at him, disappearing simply by raising her hand.

Feeling much more focused and a great deal more certain of the fate before him, Severus turned to Mirage.

"Now, Mirage... or whatever your Fae name is," Severus said. "It is time to end this. I demand that you release this circus from the conditional curses you've placed on it, or I will take the only other option that releases them, which is destroying you." Mirage looked at him with amusement.

"You have no hope whatsoever in destroying me. You are nothing but a mere human!" Mirage said viciously.

"Human or not, I've saved both my world and yours twice, and my least reliable son was capable of defeating the demons of Tir Na Nog. I don't think underestimating humans is within your best interest... but be my guest to do so if you like," Severus said. "It'll make this go much quicker."

"How good of you to remind me of the time," Mirage said, glancing at his watch. "I'm afraid that if you were foolish enough to dual me, it would go long past midnight. If your wife did manage to find a way to escape her lover, she'll still be dead from the curse before I'm finished with you."

"Yes, well..." Severus began, but then suddenly hit Mirage with a blast of magic.

Mirage barely got his hands up in time to block it as it came in, and before he had his hands fully down, Severus murmured something under his breath and took and impressive leap backwards, landing halfway down the hill away from both the town and the circus, knowing that Mirage would follow. Severus had no intention of getting anyone else caught up in the fallout, and he knew from battles with both Ciardoth and the Dark Fae he fought in Tir Na Nog that his battle was likely to do an extreme amount of damage. The moment Mirage followed to confront him, Severus called a large barrier around them, his hands in a defensive position as he awaited an obvious response in the fight that was about to begin.

Jennifer dropped into a burrowed out tunnel, glancing around in fear when a brown cloak dropped down on her like a blanket.

"It's okay, it's okay, Mother. It's me, Five," the figure said, kneeling down into the light. Jennifer, already in tears, burst out crying even more at that point, and he hugged her trembling shoulders.

"No, please... go. I don't... I don't want any of my children seeing like this," Jennifer pleaded, trying to cover herself as best she could.

"Then take your Niffler form, Mother, but before you do... it's very important that you don't tell anyone I had anything to do with this rescue. Can you promise? If Father hears that I was involved, he might get the impression that he had something to do with it. Trust me, he didn't, and we don't need that paradox right now. Things are messy enough as it is. If he asks, just say that you cheated your way out and leave it at that. Do you understand, Mother?" Five said seriously.

"But what about the curse? What about Dawn?" Jennifer asked.

"Father is attempting to release you both from the curse as we speak, Mother. Right now, it's more important that we get you some help. Did you want to take the key to St. Mungo's as you are, or did you want to go as Pockets?" he asked.

Jennifer closed her eyes and transformed, the small creature becoming completely covered up by the cloak. Five grabbed the brown cloak and donned it once more, tapping the owl clasp that held it on so that it turned into a Ministry Concealment Cloak. Then he picked up Pockets, grabbing the key.

When they got to St. Mungo's, Thomas was already in the Agent's Emergency Room, pacing the floor.

"There you are. What happened?" Thomas asked the Concealed Figure as he handed the Niffler over.

"I can't say, she needs to tell you in her own words," Five said. "But she has some cursed makeup on, and it's going to need to be removed as quickly as possible... her removal formula will work on it."

"Understood. Thanks for the note," Thomas said and carried her out to find a doctor and to get her settled in a room.

As Thomas stood outside waiting for the doctors to see her, he was busy getting updates on the situation at the circus, officers coming in and out as they took turns Apparating back and forth to keep him updated. Gary March, recently just finished with the Carnegie house investigation, was the next to arrive, and he glanced up expectantly.

"Any progress?" Thomas asked.

"All of the students that were kidnapped have either been transported here to the hospital or to your house, except for Markus Brim and Joey Black, both still trapped in the Big Wheel, although I hear Albus Dumbledore is making progress in finding a way to get them out, with the help of Mr. Jack Cade..."

"Jack Cade? I thought Alex suspected him to be one of Bagman's men?" Thomas inquired.

"She does, and from what I'm hearing, I think she's got a point. I think he's helping because of Garvan's protection order," Gary explained. "But that's not all... it appears that half of the circus performers have decided to turn against Mirage and are now helping us fight and round up Mirage's supporters."

"And Mirage?" Thomas asked.

"He and Severus are blasting each other on the hillside and making so many craters that we had to put a Muggle concealment spell on the sky so they didn't think world war three is breaking out," Gary said.

"I think they'd have a case," Thomas said dryly, then glanced down the hall. "Do what you can to get everyone out of there, but keep enough of our people in the area that Severus has some sort of support if needed. I know what he's doing... he's realized that the only way he can stop anyone else from dying from those Debt Curses is to kill Mirage himself. Let's just hope this isn't the battle he loses," he added for good measure, then noticed a doctor coming out of Jennifer's room. "Alright, head back. Continue evacuation and containment."

"Yes, Thomas," Gary said, turning the other way as Thomas walked back over to Jennifer's room.

"Bliant?" Thomas inquired.

"I hope you don't mind my being in the high security area, Thomas. The regular staff back here thought she'd be more comfortable with one of her regular doctors right now," Morfinn explained.

"Fine, how is she doing?" Thomas asked.

"We've managed to get the makeup off, and we gave her an antidote for some dark wine that she had been given, but our tests still show she's got a potion in her system that I'm still attempting to figure out and there's a Death Curse on her caused by magic rather than a potion," Bliant reported.

"That part doesn't surprise me... Severus is working on that particular problem as we speak," Thomas replied, Bliant nodding at that. "Can I talk to her and get a statement?" Thomas asked.

"You can, but she's pretty upset. In this wing, we're not allowed to give anyone a sedative without direct authority, but..." Bliant asked hopefully.

"Let me talk to her first," Thomas said. Bliant nodded, giving a gentle knock and opening the door so he could go in.

Jennifer looked up, her expression strange as if not quite knowing how to react to her father's presence in the room as he pulled a chair close to her bed and sat down, gently taking her trembling hand.

"How are you feeling?" Thomas asked.

"I'm... here," Jennifer replied evenly.

"That good, eh?" Thomas said. "What happened, Jen-girl? How did you end up in the hands of the circus?" he asked.

Jennifer frowned at that, realizing from the question that he hadn't talked to Severus yet. Her father was also blocking his thoughts, reflecting only his concern and desire to find out what was going on without hurting her too badly.

"It was... because of Pyther and Dawn," Jennifer said, her eyes glassing over. "The Seer was the Green Lady in disguise... the one from old tales, we met her when we were in Tir Na Nog," she explained. "She tricked Pyther into a Life Debt he couldn't complete... he was supposed to have a child with her by tonight and he couldn't because she's already pregnant. We thought he was going to die at midnight unless he traded that debt away, and she was only willing to trade it to me. Pyther protested at first and he wasn't going to let me do it, but then we found out that it wasn't his life that was in danger, but Dawn's... and since I didn't follow through, she might still die," Jennifer said worriedly, glancing at the clock to see it was well past eleven. Thomas pulled the clock face down.

"Severus is already working on that problem. Gary just told me he's in the middle of a battle with Mirage as we speak, and if Mirage dies, the curse should lift. Have some faith, you know that Severus is quite motivated when it comes to protecting his family, just like you are," Thomas reminded her. "So you didn't follow through... what did they want you to do?"

"I was supposed to go try and conceive a child with one of the clowns... they gave me potions to help insure that it'd take before time was up," Jennifer said, Thomas' expression darkened, not completely able to mask his anger.

"Which clown?" Thomas asked insistently. "Do you know who it was?"

"I don't know! His clown name was Aster, but I can't read them when they have makeup on and he had full clown makeup on," Jennifer said, getting visibly upset. "But he kept saying things that made me think I did know him. He kept saying he'd been planning it for a long time... that it was something he'd wanted for years. He even built a special room to put me in," she sobbed. Thomas stood up, attempting to hide his rage. "He even said that after he was done, he was going to make me forget everything so he was the only person I'd ever remember. If someone hadn't found a way to turn one of the cuffs into a Portkey -"

"That's enough," Thomas said firmly. He leaned over and kissed her forehead, wiping the sweat off her brows afterwards. "It's okay, Jen-girl, you're safe now. I'm going to log this as a confidential statement so that you don't have to talk to anyone else about this, alright?" Jennifer smiled softly in relief, and he nodded firmly. "Good. Now, I'm going to sign off so that the doctor can give you something to relax. And by the time you wake up, I have no doubt that Severus will be here and you'll be surrounded by family. Feel free to tell them to mind their own business too, by the way."

"Thanks, Dad," Jennifer said with a grateful sigh. He gave her another kiss on the forehead and stepped out of the room.

Thomas walked over to Morfinn to sign off on a sleeping potion, then stepped into a small communication room, lighting the fireplace.

"Maurice's room. Interrupt if necessary," Thomas said, sending a Flame and waiting until Maurice's image appeared in the flame.

"What do you need, Dad?" Maurice asked.

"I want you over here immediately to look after your sister. I have to go take care of something trivial and I need someone here I can trust to look after things... bring Garvan or Natalie with you, whichever isn't on flag board duty. Whoever it is should maintain an obvious presence in the main lobby."

"We'll be right there," Maurice said.

Thomas broke contact, checking to see which wands he had brought with him.

On the side of the mountain, the fierce battle continued, even as the clock ticked closer to midnight. Severus knew he was running out of time, and yet he still had no ideas on how to put Mirage down for good. True, he was no Ciardoth; it was not as complex as having to tie Time streams together. But Mirage was still proving to be a Dark Fae with a great amount of power, and so far his attempts to find a weakness had yet to reveal anything.

Severus dove out of the way of the blast, doing what he could to conserve his energy as Mirage launched powerful magic attacks in his direction. Mirage's Dark Magic attacks reminded Severus vividly of many of the more vicious dark creatures that he had encountered, from Slaughs to Hags to Redcaps, and every color of evil faerie race in between. Mirage's Wild Magic attacks reminded him a tad of Ciardoth, as lightning came down to try to electrocute him and the earth liquefied in its attempts to bury him. But his curses in particular had a nastiness about them, and Severus had to be quick to recognize what the curse was intending to do to him so that he avert it before it reached him. After countering a spell to boil his blood, Severus leapt into the air again, riding a gust of wind he had created to avoid a second spell that sent arrows that manifested to try to pierce him.

As he drifted in the air, he heard the distorted sound of the Hogwarts Bell in the distance. It was a warning... a warning that midnight was approaching, and even the temporal spell he had placed on the area, it was not going to be enough to hold it back much longer. There had to be solution. There had to be a quick solution.

"I know what this reminds me of," Severus said out of the blue, as he craftily used the air currents from his wind gust spell to gather some distance for his next attack. "It reminds me of another battle in Tir Na Nog that happened at the Canyon Lift. Tell me, Mirage, since you seem to know of the Diamonds, were you one of those who were condemned for breaking it? Did you make a deal with the demons for revenge?"

Severus felt his hair stand on end... a feeling that he remembered so vividly after dealing with Ciardoth that he instinctively rolled to the ground and got out of the way as another bolt of lightning struck too close for comfort, burning the side of his arm as he protected his head.

"I take it that's a yes!" Severus shouted, his ears still ringing. "Is that how you know Merlin?"

"He is nothing more than a demon hybrid that shouldn't have been allowed to live! That you humans revere him shows just how little you know of him!" Mirage snarled.

"I don't revere him... probably because I do know him," Severus said. "But I'm more interested to know what your part in this was. Tell me, Mirage. Did you know Prince Boethyn?"

"How dare you. How dare you bring Boethyn into this! I'll rip you to shreds!" Mirage said, sending such a volley of daggers at him that he had to Disapparate and take another stance to the side to keep from getting hit.

"So you do know him. Then you were one of those that condemned for breaking the Diamond... for disrupting the wedding between the king's daughter and the human she fell in love with."

"Gweniera was her name! She was my sister!" he snapped.

Severus paused, taken by enough surprise that he nearly lost then and there when he launched a death curse straight at him, attempting to turn him inside out. Using a distortion spell to buy him extra time to react, Severus took his Raven form.

It was Mirage's turn to be surprised as he momentarily lost the bird in the darkness surrounding them. But as he blasted out fire to see more clearly, Severus had returned to his normal form. Blinding light hit Mirage from all sides, but darkness followed suit as the two of them attempted to use their differences in eyesight against each other.

"So you were a prince! And this is how you behave!" Severus shouted at him. "And if you were her brother, that means Merlin is your great nephew! That's the real reason he is disinclined to kill you! It's not because he can't, it's because that unlike you, he doesn't believe in killing family, no matter how dastardly they are! And that's despite the fact that you chose to support Count Boethyn when you sister chose to marry for love!"

"She polluted our bloodline with that of humans when she should have married my blood brother! She deserved the punishment she got!" Mirage said, a dense fog lifting from the ground around his feet.

"And you deserved the punishment you got! If anything, I think the punishment for you and Boethyn was a bit too easy!" Severus shouted, his voice echoing in different directions as he slipped into the fog.

"Is that why you killed my brother's son? Because you thought he got off too easy?" Mirage challenged him.

"I didn't kill Count Boedyn! I only confronted him to stop him from dragging me and my wife to Lilueth!" Severus snapped. "Prince Dathbryn killed him, with -"

Suddenly Severus stopped talking and started running.

At the time it happened, Severus had no idea how Dathbryn had killed Boedyn. The distortion caused by attempting to put Fae Magic into physical terms that he could understand had caused Severus to be uncertain at the time. But in that moment, it all became clear to him; Dathbryn had something in his hand.

Severus slid part of the way down the mountain as he raced to the very edge of his magic barrier, towards the dark silhouette of trees just outside of the damaged area. Growling at the apparent cowardice of his opponent, Mirage teleported away in front of Severus just as he reached the barrier and dispelled it.

"How dare you run from me! How dare you attempt to flee to hide what Prince Dathbryn did to my blood brother's son!" Mirage growled.

"Then I will tell you how he died right now," Severus shouted loudly. "Boedyn died from a blow from Prince Dathbryn's own sword, a sword of Elvish steel, inundated with Light Magic!"

Severus heard the sound of pure exertion, followed by the sight of a long blade sticking out of Mirage's chest as he was pierced through the heart. Mirage's eyes bulged from surprise and dismay and fell forward, while Severus had step out of the way to keep Mirage's corpse from landing on him.

Standing in the shadow of the trees was Harry Potter. He was panting loudly, trying to catch his breath once more.

"Thank you, Harry. I see you got my note," Severus said, suddenly so exhausted from the fight that he sat down on the singed grass, holding his side after his run.

"Cutting it close, weren't you?" Harry snapped between breaths. "I thought the curse was going to go off for sure as long as you were taking to get him over here!"

"Oh? How close was I?" Severus asked.

That was when the two of them heard the sound of bells in the distance.