Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Universe belongs to JKR and anyone she legally lets use them. Not me.

A/N: And I return from the dead! Sorry my lovely readers, semester started again and I've been swamped with work, and then my muse left me :( It seems, however, that there's something about midterm season that jump starts my creative side :) So, finally, here I am with this next chapter. Thank you everyone for the RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME reviews. Every time I see how many reviews, faves, and alerts this story has, I have a minor fainting spell xD Hopefully you haven't left me since it's been sooooooooooooooooo long :)

Enjoy!

Chapter 23

Harry gasped, waking up suddenly as his limbs prickled with an odd sensation. Furrowing his eyebrows, Harry tried to relax, his hands grasping for his glasses. Upon locating them, he glanced at the clock. Two o'clock in the morning? Why had he woken up?

Feeling oddly rested and unsettled at the same time, Harry climbed out of bed, reaching for his book and tiptoeing to the library to settle into the sofa.

An hour later, midway through his book, Harry felt the wards tingle. The Floo had been activated.

Fingering his wand, Harry cast a Disillusionment Charm and crept towards the parlor. One could never be too careful, constant vigilance and all. Eyeing the Floo, Harry released the breath he'd been holding and cancelled the charm.

"Ron? What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."

Ron sighed, "They've got a location on Vela."

Eyes widening, Harry strode into the room, mind awake and sharp. "What? Where? When are we going in?"

Ron pursed his lips and swallowed, "You're not supposed to know…"

Harry raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Ron nodded, "But they're idiots and told me the plan."

Harry motioned for Ron to continue.

"They want to use Snape as bait."

Harry froze and then hissed, slowly, "What?"

Ron nodded, "They were going to have him come in and…it didn't make any sense. Something's going on mate. I don't get it. Their plan? It involved Snape going in without a wand. You too…and then, I don't even know. I heard the no wand bit and exploded."

Harry's eyes narrowed, "No wand? They were going to send Snape in with no wand?"

Ron nodded, "Mate…"

Clenching his jaw, Harry said, "This is enough. I presume the Minister was there, at this Auror meeting that I, Deputy Head of the department, wasn't invited to?"

Ron nodded.

"I see." Waving his wand, Harry transfigured his pajamas into robes of the deepest green, and strode towards the Floo. "That's it. I'm going to give that man a piece of my mind."

"Harry—"

"No Ron. Enough is enough."

Severus sat stiffly at the dining table, his eyes focused on the mug of coffee in front of him, his mind, however, incapable of informing his hands to raise it to his lips. He was still reeling from his nighttime revelation, one he had stayed up for hours contemplating. Now, it was morning and he needed to drink this coffee to be alert enough to function.

And yet he was still in shock.

A part of him felt surprisingly guilty. After all, Potter and Draco had been separated by his actions, his removal of Draco's memories. Regardless of the fact that they had sanctioned it, he had, in essence, taken away Draco's memories of his love for Potter and then taken the blonde for himself.

It somehow made his relationship with Draco feel dirty. And he hated it. A feeling of guilt had made his chest ache and rendered him incapable of staying in bed with his lover any longer.

He had known that this was too good to be true. Draco would have never loved him if he had not removed those memories.

Their love was fabricated. Real only in the context of Draco's incomplete memories.

The anguish that Severus felt was incomprehensible, inexpressible, unbearable.

All Severus had left to do was to confront Potter, to get the truth…and to tell Draco.

Potter came stumbling into the kitchen, fully dressed, and muttering to himself.

"Potter," Severus began, clearing his throat.

"Not now, Snape."

Severus blinked in surprise. The rage and anger on Potter's face was slightly alarming, the look in his eyes reminiscent of an angry Albus Dumbledore.

"Potter, it is vital I speak with you," Severus said, attempting once more, ignoring the twinge in chest at the thought of his beloved mentor.

Clenching his jaw, Harry spun around to look Severus in the eye. "The fucking Minister thinks that if you and I have a picnic in an open field, without our wands, Vela will be drawn to us and reveal herself, allowing the other Aurors to capture her."

Severus stared at Potter, "Excuse me?"

Potter snorted, "My thoughts exactly. If they think I'm going to let them make you bait. And if they think I'm letting them come within ten feet of our wands, they have another thing coming."

"I do not understand."

Closing his eyes slowly, as if in great pain, Potter spoke quietly, "The Minister has something against you. I do not know what. He believes that he needs to keep a hold on me, to control me, and for some reason you as well. I don't know why, I don't understand it, but our marriage seems to have threatened him."

Cocking his head to the side, Severus said, "I see."

"Do you?"

"I think we should follow their orders."

Harry looked at Snape incredulously. "What?"

Snape shrugged, "You and I are accomplished and powerful wizards. It is not as if we will be incapable of fighting back."

Staring unblinkingly at the man, Harry began to slowly shake his head, "No…no, Snape, no. I…I…What will Malfoy say?"

The infuriating man rolled his eyes, "Draco does not control my actions."

"You are a bloody git." Snape's eyebrows rose at Harry's comment. "You're going to let yourself enter a dangerous situation like that and not take your wand? And not even discuss it with your lover? Are you insane?"

Dark eyes narrowed as the Slytherin rose, towering over Harry. "Watch yourself, Potter. I simply think it is better to not fight against the Ministry, especially with the amount of control they boast to have over you and me. It is simply not in our best interest. I am a Slytherin, Potter, we fight what battles we can win, and we cope with the ones we cannot."

Harry gaped at the man, incapable of contemplating what he was suggesting. "Snape, you realize, if she captures us, she'll have the upper hand? And we'll have no way out?"

"Ah, but capture us she will not. Come now, Potter, how can an insane woman with no social understanding, outwit a spy and the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Become-The-Man-Who-Saved-Us-All?"

Green eyes glaring, Harry pursed his lips. "Fine. We'll do it. But we're going to take our wands. And if it goes wrong…"

"Gryffindors. Fine, Potter, I shall be to blame. Will that satisfy you?"

Harry lay back on the blanket next to a seated Snape as they watched the clouds float by, both braced for attack. Every minor movement, every flutter of the grass by the wind, every floating butterfly, they had to hold a flinch back. Speaking of mundane things, they ate their sandwiches in the presence of their whispered conversation, ears more intent on listening for a crazed woman than the words coming from their lips.

And then Harry felt it. The creeping sensation on the back of his neck, the tensing of his muscles before a gash appeared on his arm.

"She's here Severus," Harry whispered, clenching his jaw as the blood began to flow out of the cut. Another appeared, and then another, all the while Severus gripped Harry's arm, trying to stop the bleeding.

And then it all went wrong.

Harry cursed as the pain began to overtake his senses, and fumbled for his wand. And then, just like that, the wand slipped from his fingers to float away behind him.

"Your actions are futile Severus Snape!" A trilling voice appeared moments before Vela Lestrange dropped her aura of invisibility.

Severus glared at the chit, pulling out his wand and throwing a curse at her.

"He's mine, not yours, he will always be mine. You are simply an interlude," Vela drawled blocking Severus's curse and quickly casting a Cruciatus on Severus. Vela turned to smile darkly at Harry, "My love, I know you didn't mean it. He's simply a plaything, yes?"

Severus blocked the curse and soon they were engaged in a duel, flashes of blue and red passing between them. Vela advanced and Harry's gashes flowed faster. Severus looked down for a moment, concerned with Harry's fading color. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Vela blasted Severus back, making him collapse several feet away. Attempting to rise quickly, Severus had but enough time to process Vela's sickeningly sweet smile, before hearing her say, "At last, my love, we shall be together. Farewell, Severus Snape, you shall never see your husband again!" Cackling, the woman wrapped her hand around Harry's arm, the long red nails frightening against the Gryffindors pale skin, grasped the pendent of her necklace and promptly disappeared.

Review please!