Author's note: Hello everyone! Thank you for adding this story to your favorites, to your alerts, and for your very kind reviews! It means a lot to me (and all authors, I can safely) assume when you see that you/your story have been favorited or alerted or reviewed! I do happy dances and confuse my family whenever I receive notices! So, I hope you are enjoying this! Please, if you have any questions, comments, and/or complaints, please tell me. Soon, I'm going to wrap this story up; an end is in sight! However, it is still pretty foggy and formless...
OH! I almost forgot! Well, in the last chapter, I DID forget, to say that wrapped up in the little paper was a vial of memories that Severus Snape had left inside. In the note, it mentions the vial and says to give it to Harry at the last battle. I'll edit the chapter and put it in there, but since most of you probably don't reread previous chapters, I'm telling you here.
CRACK.
"Thank you, Lucie."
A dark, foggy, freezing forest surrounded them with tall trees looming over like petrified Dementors. Somewhere near, the Golden Trio's camp was hidden by Hermione Granger's clever spellwork. In front of her, Silwen could make out a small body of water. So that was the pond. Curiosity pricked at her, nagging and pulling her to investigate the pond and its contents. But she didn't dare. When the Dark Lord had her again he'd find out.
Gripping her wand that Voldemort had let her have again, she conjured a glass jar and shot a blue fire inside it. Two gears were here, now all she needed was for Harry Potter to come into view and everything would begin to work.
"You can share this with me Lucie," whispered Silwen.
"Thank you, Mistress," Lucie whispered back.
"Lucie, I'd rather be called 'Miss', not 'Mistress'. It sounds so old," complained Silwen, huddled beside her elf.
"But you are my new mistress, Mistress!" said Lucie, "You are the new head of the Snape family!"
Resignedly, Silwen said, "All right..."
At the mention of Snape, Silwen stiffened, looking intently at the fire, blinking rapidly. She was the last Snape. Last. Well, when she married, she'd keep her maiden name or at least combine it with her husband's. Uncle Severus had to live on, if only by his name.
The night drew on, growing even colder. Colder perhaps, than even Christmas Eve. The memory started to distract her, but Silwen quickly pinched herself and forced the memory away, concentrating on looking for any figure in the mist.
Snap! A miraculously dry branch broke, echoing around the forest. Someone was here. At last. As silently as an assassin, Silwen crawled nearer to get a better look. Several feet of the ground, something glinted and reflected the moon's light. Glasses. Potter. He had come. Click, everything seemed to go as all the gears started to turn.
Thinking of her uncle, she whispered, "Expecto Patronum."
Serenely, a gently glowing doe stepped in front of her. Her uncle's patronus. Tears flowed gracefully from her eyes onto the forest floor, creating a small pond of their own. The doe that she had loved, now was inside her. Yet she felt that this was more of a single event, a farewell to her uncle rather than a permanent change. A memorial of sorts.
If my patronus stays a doe, I don't think I'll ever be able to get over it, even though it's beautiful, she thought regretfully. If she kept the doe, she'd always feel the need to run to her uncle. And now she couldn't. Now she had to learn how to stand alone and as strongly as she could because she had no one to run to anymore, no more sweeping black robes, no more hands roughened from too many faulty potion brewings. Except for Draco. But Draco...Draco simply wasn't her uncle. And right now, it felt like she was protecting Draco from murder, much like he had protected his parents by trying to murder Dumbledore last year.
"Go guide Potter to the pond," she murmured.
She watched as Potter followed the doe. Watched him exclaim when he looked into the pond. Watched him dive inside. And then almost have herself away when Weasley appeared from the dark and jumped in after him and brought Potter back up to the surface, both of the boys gasping so loudly that she was able to hear from several yards away.
It was time to go. Before she found anything out or heard something she shouldn't.
"Lucie! If you could take us to London please!" she whispered, knowing that Lucie would hear.
"Yes Mistress," replied Lucie, her round eyes shining with pride. "You did it, mistress! Master Snape would have been so proud of you!"
Crack.
The silence from the forest felt like it had accompanied them to Diagon Alley; not a sound was heard anywhere. Of course. Curfew. Locating an inn, the pair scurried inside before a Death Eater could cite see them off.
"O-one r-room, p-please," she whispered with chattering teeth to the inn keeper.
"That's ten galleons," he replied, irate at having been woken up so early in the morning.
Reaching for the pouch Narcissa gave her, she took ten galleons and exchanged them for a key.
"You have room 374. Top floor. Check out is at 8 tomorrow morning," he snapped, pointing first to the stairs then to the clock.
"T-thank you," she said heading up to the room.
Once inside their new haven, Lucie started a fire and Silwen inspected the room. It was tidy, small, but with clean sheets a firm, bugless bed, and a large window with a beautiful view of the moon.
"What are we doing tomorrow, Mistress?"
"Buying something to wear and sending an owl to ex-Professor Lupin. He and the Order of the Pheonix must know what the Dark Lord is up to in America and that my uncle is dead. Oh, and I might buy a few potion supplies for you to take back to Spinner's End."
Yawning, Silwen put the Gemino charm on the blanket, gave one to Lucie, then crept into bed. She had done it. Uncle Severus could rest in peace.
"Thank you, Lucie. Thank you so very much."
"You're welcome, Mistress. Good night," said Lucie, smiling with tears in her eyes.
Silwen closed her eyes and murmured, "I love you, Lucie."