9. Chapter

Loosing What's Worth It

In a lonely, dark part somewhere in Scotland a lonely man was sitting in his personal quarters and thought about his life and the future which lay ahead of him. The last weeks had been pure hell for him. Potter, the little, dumb brat had vanished from earth. Normally this would have been a reason to celebrate, but not at this time. He had changed his plans and now they didn't involve her death anymore, well, not so quickly anyway.

Yes, she would have been to be killed in future, but it wasn't important anymore whether this would happen sooner or later. The little girl now played an important role in his plans and now that he needed her, she had suddenly vanished.

His employees hadn't been helpful either. Instead of bringing him information about possible locations where the girl who lived could spend her free time, they couldn't even bring him some new names of friends and important people of hers. To say that he was disappointed, was an understatement. And to be honest, he had expressed his displeasure about their failures quite clearly. Some of his employees still couldn't look him in the eyes, even now nearly two month later.

He had tried everything. He let his employees spy on her best friends and all the other people she held dear. These weren't many and so he had even the sources to let some of his men question her neighbourhood and random people who passed their locations. But a single one of his ideas had worked.

Her neighbours stated that they didn't even know the girl and the other random people, who passed the observed locations, offered that they did know the girl, yes, but not personally. After six weeks of unsuccessful investigation, he told his men to retreat to their works and to search for anything which might give away the awful brat's whereabouts.

The press, helpful and informative medium that it was, could do nothing more than the rest of the wizarding community: they guessed. Some of his men were reading through the newspapers, so they might find some hidden meanings and conclusions but all in vain.

The press, which normally knew everything and which had helped him a lot in preparing his plans regarding Potter, were just as useless as all his other sources. The only satisfaction which he got was that the enemies, the other side of the war, did know exactly as much as he did; nothing. His little spy had told him that neither of them knew what was going on and what to do.

Instead of writing something about the disappearance of the well known and most popular girl in their world, the reporters and newspapers began to get interested in another girl. Her appearance at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy was spectacular, every single student had his own opinion about the identity of the girl and the reasons for her stay in Scotland, which they all wanted to share with the rest of the world. When he read through one of the papers, he would have nearly choked on his coffee.

There, in big, black letters, they announced the future Mrs. Malfoy. Why hadn't his spy informed him about this girl? She seemed to be powerful and undecided, which of the both sides of the war seemed to be the right one. Had he been informed earlier, he could have prepared everything for her and they would now have had another supporter for their goal. Perhaps he should rethink his opinion of his Potions Master. He didn't seem as loyal as he wished him to be.

Angry at the star of misfortune which seemed to stay constantly over his well developed plans, the man grabbed one of the little silvery instruments, which decorated the big, dark desk and threw it at the next wall with full force. He didn't have to watch, but instead listened to the loud crash, accompanied by the sound of little, light pieces raining to the ground.

With a satisfied look on his features, the man turned around and dedicated his entire attention to the envelop which lay in front of him. This envelop would help him reach his goal. Just some last additions and the letter inside of the envelop would damage the balance of powers and work in his favour for the outcome of the war.

With an insane laugh which filled the rooms of his chambers and was reflected at each and every wall, the lonely man raised his wand and hexed the letter. They would be surprised and nothing and nobody would be able to stop him.

The young woman sighed. It had been a long, very long night, she was extremely tired and her back and head hurt like hell. Mr. Smitherson wanted her to summarize the results of her interviews and spontaneous questionings in own single report. So she had to write each and every statement down which had been done on a single sheet, then place them on the right folders - positive statements about the Headmaster, negative statements about the Headmaster and neutral statements about the Headmaster.

These piles had to be brought into the right order, beginning with the most inaccurate and unimportant statements and ending with the more accurate and important ones. Finally, after she had done this with all of the three piles, she had to write a conclusion about what those piles were about and which of them she thought they could trust the most.

With another sigh the young, black haired woman straightened up and stretched her sore back. It had been a hell lot of work and stupid questionings. Most of the students didn't seem to be able to say more than:

"I like Professor Dumbledore, he is nice and treats us all like we were his grandchildren. To be honest, he reminds me a lot of my own grandpa."

Well, jeez, with such comments you couldn't work and nobody wants to hear such things when it is a well known fact that the dear, esteemed Professor Dumbledore wasn't as nice as he wanted them to believe. Molesting and cursing her little sister in public was one of the proves for his ambivalent composures.

Just when she gathered her tea service and started to get up, the door on the other side of the room opened and a tall, dark haired man entered. He had a stern face, chocolate brown eyes and a light tan on his natural dark skin. Jonathan Smitherson was an English man by law, but his roots lay in South America, where he had been born and where he had lived for the first ten years of his life.

He was a Cuban classic example, tall, tanned and with dark black hair. He, just like a certain someone, only wore the colour black. But Jonathan did not only look like a classic cuban example, he acted like one, too.

He never got stressed up, he always had time and room for flirting and he loved chilling in the afternoon sun with a nice glass of rum in one hand and a cigarillo in the other. To say that he attracted girls like light attracted mosquitoes would have been an understatement. Now he leaned relaxed against one of the doorframes and looked at her with tease in his eyes and a smirk on his face. She wasn't his type, it had been the first thing he had told her, when they met for the first time, nevertheless he loved acting as if there was nothing more important than getting her into his bed.

Anastasia stopped in her tracks, placed her tea service on the table, before she sat down again in a fluent motion. Whenever Jonathan looked at her this way, he had something important for her and she sure as hell would better be sitting still and listen, or she would have to find out for herself. She raised an eyebrow, tilted her head to one side, then she crossed her arms over her chest and looked expectantly at him. This better was more than important. She was dead-tired and could already hear her bed screaming for her presence.

"We've got him."

Nothing more, nothing less.

Anastasia slowly but surely grew tired of this game. Why couldn't he just tell what he found out?

"What do you mean, we've got him?"

Her tone was clearly angry now and wouldn't Jonathan hurry up, she sure as hell would snap really soon.

Jonathan seemed to get the silent warning, as his stance and pose changed. He grew serious all of a sudden and let himself sink down on the chair opposite of her.

"The Headmaster, we've got him. I just had a very interesting chat with the School Nurse, Madam Poppy Pomfrey and she confirmed some things which I suspected since our arrival. The dear and nice Headmaster isn't as innocent and caring as he wants us to believe. The incident with Ms. Kiara Dorina Balgakow is just the tip of the iceberg. She wasn't the only one to get molested and abused.

There are some other children from different houses and ages, who got the same treatment. And all of them have one thing in common: their parents play a major and or important role in this war. All of them should have accused the Headmaster a long time ago, as they will be perfect witnesses for our cause. Perhaps we will be able to add some things to his charge. He sure as hell would have earned it. It's just our bad that this Ms. Harriet Potter isn't here anymore."

The trail of his voice let Anastasia think.

"Why is it unfortunate that Ms. Potter isn't here anymore, Jonathan?"

Jonathan sighed and started to massage his temples.

"Well, it seems as if whatever the Headmaster did to all the other students, it is nothing compared to what he has done to this poor girl. She clearly got it worst of all. If we just charged him for everything he did to her, it would be enough to send him to Azkaban for the rest of his life.

But unfortunately for us, this girl isn't here anymore and we can't just charge the old man for something we don't have any witness for. This is why it is our bad. But even the other charges and witnesses should be enough to earn him a nice cell on this beautiful island."

Anastasia clenched her jaw.

It wasn't enough for the old man to molest and abuse her sister at the beginning of the term. No, he had done this for years as it seemed and her little sister hadn't done anything to stop him. Why, oh why, hadn't she put up resistance earlier? Why had she accepted this treatment over the course of time without ever complaining about it? Did her friends and her boyfriend know about this?

Ahh, no. Of course they wouldn't know about any of this. Kiara wasn't this kind of girl to just complain about every little injustice in her life. She would accept any of them at any time.

Anastasia straightened herself up and got up to leave. Her features were firm and there was a strong frown prominent on her forehead. Her little sister had always accepted unfair and unjustified treatment without complaining. It sometimes even seemed as if she was expecting to be treated worse than others. She seemed to think that it was okay if other treated her bad.

But it wasn't.

Her little sister was worth being treated nice and in a better way. She had to accept this fact and get used to not being treated like the scum on others' shoes, because she wasn't. And Anastasia swore that this would change. For the sake of her little sister.

With this thought on her mind, Anastasia left the little conference room and made her way to the dungeons to speak with her little sister and her boyfriend. She would need every help she could get, as this surely wouldn't be an easy task.

Draco Malfoy was content. They had been training for nearly three hours without any interruption and now he was tired. It had been dark, cold and in the middle of their training it had started to rain. It seemed as if the sky was crying, because the entire water vapour streamed down from the sky above to the ground in steady streams. When it was finally raining so much that nobody was able to see his team players or even one of the balls, Theodore Nott, their new Captain admitted that it would be use- and senseless to continue with their training.

The new team was really good, indeed. Blaise was their Keeper. He had improved quite a lot during the holidays and was now able to nearly keep every ball in every situation. Theodore and two fifth years' boys whose names Draco couldn't remember were their new Hunters. They had gotten better, too, and were able to shoot some very spectacular goals.

Crabbe and Goyle, their Beaters, had fulfilled their homework of last year and lost quite some weight. If they hadn't, they would have had to search for new Beaters, as both boys would clearly have been too fat to play a good game of Quidditch.

And finally Draco was, like the years before, their Seeker. Thanks to his new flying ability he seemed to have improved even more, as he now could feel the wind and everything around him which was moving. The other teams would have to watch out, the Slytherin team was out and they wanted the cup dearly.

With a big smile on his face he reached the portrayal to his chambers. The Gryffindors would have to eat mud, that was for sure. Harriet Potter wasn't their Seeker anymore and unfortunately for them, but fortunately for every other team, the Gryffindor Quidditch team had missed the opportunity to teach some of their younger fellows the art which was being seeker in one of the most dangerous sports which was played in their world.

Now they had a serious problem to find a competent replacement. Just thinking about the faces which those two Weasels would pull after their first match made Draco's day.

He muttered the password to their chambers and silently entered as not to disturb his mate. She probably was still pissed at him for leaving at their free Saturday and for being allowed to play Quidditch. He would have to make it up to her, but by Merlin's name he didn't know how.

Perhaps a little talk with Blaise and Pansy about the feminine psychology would give him some ideas. If not, he would have to settle for talking with his Godfather. This was what he had him for. But seriously, talking with his Godfather about his love life was something he would try to avoid at all costs.

Not being able to suppress a shudder, Draco carefully opened the door to their living room and stepped in. Just when he wanted to leave to search for Kiara in their bedroom or in the bathroom, he saw her sitting in the armchair. Her knees were drawn a little to her chest, her arms formed a pillow on the right side of the chair and her head rested lightly on them.

He could see that she was freezing a little. Her dress, still the dark purple short one she wore during their date, didn't even completely reach and cover her upper legs. Her arms were free of any clothing and he could see the little goosebumps forming on her arms and legs. Slight shivers ran through her body and made her stir in her sleep.

Draco could feel the smile which was forming on his face, as he came nearer to his sleeping fiancée with a wicked smile on his face. He wanted to do this for a long time and now was the perfect opportunity. Draco positioned himself next to her sleeping from, slowly bent over her and then inspected her robe free throat and shoulder.

He placed his lips carefully on the spot above her clavicle, where her thin and long throat turned into her shoulder. Carefully as not to wake her he began to lightly kiss her neck. Slowly the kissing changed to sucking. The once lightly pale pink skin soon changed to red and then dark purple. Draco glanced down contentedly at the now dark purple spot, bent even nearer and then suddenly bit hard into her neck.

With a yelp and strong curse on her lips the former sound asleep girl woke up and spun around in the chair. A pair of big, surprised and still sleepy eyes connected with smiling and twinkling silver ones. Kiara gaped at him with an open mouth and pointed one finger accusingly at him. When her eyes fell to her neck, she paled considerably.

"Jeez, Draco, what is your problem? That's going to leave a horribly visible mark there! Why did you do this?"

Draco had to chuckle. Her hair was wild and her features were still sleepy. Only the appearance of some pink points on her face indicated that she indeed did not think it to be funny. With a smug look on his face Draco raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to one side lightly.

"I only did what every other veela mate would do. I claimed what is mine. This little mark will never really cease. It won't be as visible as it is now, but for all the veelas out there, it will tell them that they shouldn't even try to curt you. You are safe and claimed, nobody will ever be able to approach you in a mean or wrong way."

Her eyes had softened through his little speech. He knew that she would appreciate his thoughts about her safety and her virtue. As she had been abused rapidly and constantly during her whole life thus would do it to you. He had known about her fear of someone other than him touching her or even looking at her in a sexual way and knew that it gave her the creeps. This was why he had planned long ago to give her this claiming mark.

In this millennium it was something unusual to do. Most veelas didn't claim their mates in this way anymore, as the veela and vampire mating was sacred before the law. Anybody who would try to approach a mate in a wrong way, would be punished severly. Nevertheless he did it. He knew it would help his mate a lot and now she would be safe from any harm which could come to her in the form of other men.

"Thank you. I am sorry for the outburst. I didn't mean to offend you. But do you know how long the mark will be visible in this way? Will it cease until tomorrow?"

Draco chuckled.

"I am sorry to shatter your hopes, but until tomorrow the mark will still be clearly visible. To be honest, it will darken until tomorrow morning to a very dark shape of purple, nearly black and will stay this way for around a week. Then your magic will have worked through the claiming and the mark will fade away gradually. Sorry, dear."

Wouldn't he have seen it, he wouldn't have believed it. Kiara's face, which already was very pale, paled even further. She now was as white as a bed sheet.

"W-what? It will even become darker? Oh my God! Tomorrow we've got Herbology in the green house seven. This is where all the tropical plants are. It's going to be hot and humid. Everybody will see it!"

A laugh filled the air. Kiara huffed. Here she was, pouring her heart's problems to her fiancé and he just laughed at her? With another huff which caused Draco to laugh even harder, Kiara grabbed one of the pillows and threw it at her flushed boyfriend.

The pillow hit him straight in the face and caused him to fall on his butt. Now Kiara had to laugh what caused Draco to stand up shakily, to grab another pillow and to throw it at her. The pillow war which now erupted in the huge and elegant living room lasted several hours. When they finally agreed on an armistice, they were both breathing heavily and sweating lightly. The two of them settled down on one of the couches and tried to relax.

"I wanted to talk to you, Draco."

Still breathing heavily, Draco turned around to look at her, a light grin on his face. He sneaked one arm around her shoulder and pulled her nearer to him. The pillows still lay everywhere in their living room and formed little islands of green, silver, white, black and grey cushion. The house elves would have to work a lot this night in their rooms, as a bombing couldn't have caused more chaos.

"What is it, my dear?"

His voice was rough and deep. Kiara's head was resting on one of his broad, firm shoulders and her hair was falling down over his chest into his lap. The hand which was lightly resting at her shoulder, played mindlessly with a strand of her nearly black hair. Hadn't her wish to talk to him not been so dearly, she would have lost herself in his ministrations and the sounds of his soothing voice.

She had to rush herself to speak, so she cleared her throat, as otherwise speaking would have been impossible.

"."

Well, Kiara, this went really smooth, she thought. In her hurry to tell him her problem, she had rushed the words in such a speed that she wouldn't be surprised if her fiancé hadn't understood any of it.

When she raised her head to see his reaction, she came face to face with the smirking features of her beloved mate. One of his fine eyebrows was raised in a questioning manner and there was a glint in his eyes that she had never seen before. Seeing this kind of reaction, she could only groan and went for burying her face in his shoulder.

A little laugh reached her ears, before she felt one of Draco's hands at her cheeks, carefully stroking it.

"Could you repeat this, dear, I wasn't able to understand one single word."

Kiara, her head still buried in his shoulder, took another deep breath before she straightened up and faced her chuckling boyfriend.

"Well, my sister Anastasia has a strong liking for your beloved and estimated Godfather and wants to go out with him. Now she needs your help with finding out what he likes and dislikes and how to act to gain his attentention. Would you be so kind as to help her with this little problem?"

Draco stilled.

There were just his eyes moving, blinking rapidly for just some seconds. Then he slowly turned around to stare at his fiancée and tilted his head to one side. He blinked again at her and asked her in a surprised way:

"Your sister, Anastasia, the woman with the long black hair and silvery eyes, the one with the interesting humour and an affinity for research projects, is interested in my Godfather? The one and only Severus Snape, Potions Master extraordinary from Hogwarts and the greasy git of the dungeons? She wants to go for a date with him?

Why?"

He seemed to be greatly disturbed by the idea, whether it was because of his Godfather or her sister, she couldn't tell.

Throughout his little rambling, Kiara had nodded every time when a confirmation was in order. She had a feeling that Draco didn't quite understand, why they needed his help and what he was supposed to do.

"Well, she does not only want to go out with, she already wishes to marry him. But this is beside the point."

Now she would have to hurry or she would never be able to finish this.

"She really likes him. It's not like she wants to gain something from this relationship. She just really likes him. He was the first to ever look at her differently and to care for her, she told me. He was nice, caring, educated and a real gentleman. This is something Ana isn't used to. Her former boyfriends were just plain stupid and brutal. They drank without thinking and then got violent.

Severus seems to be different. He asked her how she was, how she liked it so far at Hogwarts and if she needed help with something. He didn't seem to be too uninterested himself. Please, Draco, help me!"

She hadn't exactly planned on pleading with her boyfriend for his help. But she loved her sister and she would do everything to make her happy. Anastasia's life had been hard. Moving from Russia to England at such a young age, having problem with understanding the other kids, being shunned and mobbed because of said communication problems and then having to move to back to Russia just when the two of them had gotten great friends. In Russia as well as England she was now an outsider.

She had lost a year at school and now her former friends weren't interested in spending time with her anymore. The guys she had been dating had been losers. None of them were interested in her. But instead they took great interest in her wealth, fortune and possessions. Anastasia's parents were barons with good relations to the most important politicians and governors. To find someone who was truly liked her for being herself and not what she got was really difficult.

Draco melted.

He saw the determination and the sorrow in his fiancée's eyes. He felt something inside him break, so he approached his mate and tried to comfort her.

"Love, I am sorry. Of course, I will help you. It's just that I can't remember when the last time was that Uncle Severus had had affectionate feelings for anyone besides my family. He once had a girlfriend during his sixth year at school, but they broke up rather violently and since then he had been single. The guilt and the hurt he is still feeling because of this break up leaves him unable to start a new relationship.

It's not as if there weren't any women interested in him. He just keeps his cold and uncaring façade to protect himself from further hurt and sorrow. I-I just think that it will be hell to convince him that it's worth it. I don't want to see him hurt again."

Kiara had to laugh, the whole situation was just too absurd.

"Okay, so on the one side we have an often hurt and betrayed young woman, who normally is afraid of relationships because she fears her partner will betray her again and she wouldn't be able to stand this disappointment and on the other side we have a horribly hurt man, who is afraid of relationships because he fears his partner might leave him again and he wouldn't be able to stand the feeling of being alone again after having spent a lot of time with another woman. Well, I would say these two are perfect for each other.

There is nothing that could possibly go wrong."

Draco chuckled.

"We can't determine where love falls to. If she really loves him and he starts to fall in love with her, I don't see why a date or even a long term relationship shouldn't work out. The only problem would be that we would have to work everything out exactly."

Draco's gaze went to far away. There was a frown on his face, as if he was trying to figure out a really difficult problem. Well, to be honest, getting the two of them togehter on a date would take its time and convincing, but the two of them weren't veelas for nothing. If one should be able to persuade both of these stubborn and ignorant persons, it should be them.

Kiara reached for his face and carefully stroked it, breaking Draco's stupor in the process.

"Honey, don't get stressed up. Ana will not hurt your Godfather, as I would guess your Godfather won't try to hurt my sister. Don't take it that serious. If they fall for each other, well, then let's be happy for them. If they don't get hooked up, well, then let's comfort the two of them and help them get over it.

So instead of thinking about what could all go wrong, wouldn't it be better to find out as much as possible about these two and think about what things they have in common and which not?"

A hot, caring kiss was placed on her lips. Her boyfriend's mood could change from depressed to enthusiastic in mere seconds. One time he would be sitting there and ignore her presence completely in favour for thinking and the next time he would have his arms slung around her shoulders and kiss her senselessly, while his hands would get to know her body better. One day, they would have to talk about this and seriously nonetheless.

"Of course, you are right. Better good prepared than thinking about what might happen. Just let me fetch some paper and a quill. We should make four sheets. One with Anastasia's likes and dislikes, one with Severus' likings and dislikings, the third with what they have in common and the fourth with what could result in possible problems in the future. With these as background information a successful date should be possible. Just wait some seconds and let me fetch those two things."

With another short kiss to her lips, Draco jumped from the couch and dashed out of their living room. Kiara on the other hand just kept on sitting and stared with wide eyes and a look of pure disbelieve at the shadow of her retreating husband in spé. Wouldn't she have known for sure that this was Draconis Lucius Malfoy she would have laughed because of the obviously bad impersonation.

But the young man who had dashed out of the room and now kept on bustling around in their study, talking mindlessly to himself, was none other than her mate. It was scary that he acted as if he had gone crazy. Perhaps she shouldn't negate his wish for the mating process any longer, as it slowly but surely began to influence his composure and seemed to cause some really grave damage.

Suddenly something heavy fell into her lap with a loud thud and startled her from her thoughts.

"What the - "

There, next to the couch on the green armchair to her right, sat an elegant, white owl. It had big yellow eyes and a short, sharp beak. One of its legs was still outstretched and indicated to the thing which was now lying in her lap. The big yellow eyes narrowed as the owl nodded her head sharply at the huge envelope which rested on her legs. When Kiara hesitated to grab it, the owl narrowed its eyes and looked dangerously at her.

This caused Kiara to gulp.

She knew that the owl couldn't cause her much harm, nevertheless it could get quite violent and it wouldn't do her any good to provoke it any further.

Kiara tilted her head to the right and examined the envelop further. On the right corner there was her address, formally written in a nice looking purple ink. On the left side, where the address of the one who sent the envelop should have been, was nothing. Curious as to know who would sent her such a huge, formal letter, Kiara turned the envelop around and examined its back. There, in its middle, was a big, elegant seal. When she looked at it further, she could make out the seal of the Ministry.

"Why would the Ministry send me a letter?"

Kiara shrugged for an obvious lack of ideas, took the envelop in both hands and then broke the purple wax seal. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Draco return with some paper sheets and a quill in his hands. He had a questioning look on his face when his gaze fell on the envelop in her hands.

But before he could ask the question which burned on his tongue, Kiara reached for the letter. As soon as her right hand grabbed the letter to extract in from the envelop, which she still held firmly in her left hand, her vision began to blur. Suddenly there was a noise, as if there was a storm right above her head, which made it impossible for her to even hear the agitated shouts from her boyfriend. The sudden and well known pull behind her navel broke her free from her stupor, but before she could even think about throwing the letter away, she was vanished away.

The last thing she saw, was the shocked and panicked features of her boyfriend, who tried in vain to reach her arm. She could see fear, panic and dread clearly written on his face.

Then, after some painfully slowly microseconds, everything got black.