The silence rang around the arena. The people in the stands—a few bleacher-like assemblies ringed around three sides of the pit—shifted eagerly. She couldn't tell if they were anticipating brutality, or if they were looking forward to the part where she refused to kill a child and then Lestrange made a public spectacle out of her death.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

She looked across the audience, trying not to make it too obvious that she was looking for Severus. He was gone.

Shit.

"You don't like this one?" Lestrange asked, almost playfully. "Fine." He shrugged theatrically. "We'll get you a new one."

A flash of green and the boy was dead at her feet. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she might've screamed. Bellatrix cackled.

Before another was brought out, the Dark Mark erupted in the sky above the arena. There was a moment of baffled stillness, then chaos. Ministry officials (she recognized Thicknesse, Umbridge, others whose names she didn't know) scrambled for the exits. They had to keep up appearances, after all. Aurors would come; it was a farce, but it would play out. And it had been so long since a Dark Mark flew that a reporter might show up, especially since it was a high profile place like Malfoy Manor.

"Hold tight," Severus said in her ear. She couldn't see him, he was Disillusioned, but she could feel him right next to her.

"What?"

His wand knocked the top of her head and the Disillusionment trickled over her. Then he had one arm tight around her waist and she grabbed onto him as firmly as she could as they began rising into the cool night air. Wind rushed past them and the ground fell away below her dangling feet.

A scream tore out of her, but she cut it off as soon as it started.

"I've got you," Severus said. He spoke right in her ear, but they were moving so quickly that the wind stole it away and he might as well have been whispering.

Her arms clenched around him and locked. She might've learned the basics of flying, but she still hated heights.

"I've got you," he said again.

They were slowing down, descending. The moment their feet touched down, her knees began to quake. She probably would've thrown up if he hand't immediately Apparated, distracting her from her queasiness.

"A little risky!" he shouted. They were in his office. He let her go and pulled off his outer robe, wrapping it around her. He held her shoulders and glared at her. "A little risky, you said. AND THEN YOU BREAK INTO GRINGOTTS?"

He realized she was shivering and pulled her close to him, arms locking her to him as if he could lend her his steadiness.

"What were you thinking? What the hell were you thinking?" he muttered into her hair. He was rubbing her back, rubbing her arms, trying to both comfort and get her blood flowing again, warm her up. "You could've been killed."

"I m-miscalculated," she said. Her toes and fingertips were burning as sensation returned.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" he asked, pulling away and running his hands over her, looking for injuries. His voluminous robes, ridiculously large on her, made it impossible for him to see any of her.

"Cold."

He picked her up and carried her over to the wingback in front of the fire, flicking his wand and sending the flames roaring. He settled in the chair with her on his lap, her legs thrown across his thighs, just as they'd been after she was stabbed. He held her, one hand rubbing circles into her back, his lips at her temple.

She wasn't sure when she started to cry, but the tears came in abundance. She covered her eyes with her hands and pressed into Severus's chest. He held her tight to him, making soothing noises.

Minutes later, or maybe hours, she'd settled enough to talk.

"I didn't factor in the Muggle Fights. I made a mistake."

"Hm?"

"I ran the arithmancy."

"Are you telling me you were… on purpose?" His voice was dangerously low. He pulled away so that he could look at her properly.

"Harry and Ron were planning to break into Gringotts."

"What?"

"They were going to try to get to the Lestrange vault. There was a good chance it could work, even. But there was no exit, not if they were there. If it was just me, though, I had a 96 percent chance of ending up in the holding cells at the Ministry for unregistered Muggle-borns. And then, I'd be in public view, more or less. There was a 58 percent chance the Order would be able to break me out. I just forgot about the damn Fights."

"There's no way they wouldn't have put you in the Fights, especially with the Dark Lord away. They need their hour of blood, so much the better if it comes from you."

"And I didn't expect to react like that."

"Like what?" His hands kept up their gentle, moving pressure on her back. It was heavenly.

"Panicking."

"It only stands to reason that you would."

"I was fine in the Ministry cage, but once I was… Once I was behind Malfoy Manor, I just—I couldn't—"

"Sh, Hermione." He kissed her temple.

"I had hours. And that cage was bigger than the one they kept me in in Spain. I should've tried to get out. There wasn't even a guard."

"And what would you have done from there if you got out?" he asked, reasonably. "The gates only open to somebody with a Dark Mark. The grounds were crawling with Death Eaters. You didn't have a wand, you didn't have any clothes."

"I didn't expect to be left alone in the cage," Hermione said, her voice small. "I thought Bellatrix, at least, would come… visit me."

"She hasn't recovered from Easter. Not really. The Dark Lord punished her more than the Malfoys, and she has been far from stable for a long time."

"That was kind of why I thought she might show up and hex me through the bars or something." She shuddered, remembering her handler in Spain, his dead little eyes gleaming as she writhed. She almost gagged. Severus held her tighter, sensing her rising panic.

"You gave me a bloody heart attack," he said when she'd calmed a bit. He shifted her in his lap, holding her closer, tucking her head under his chin. She could feel him shaking now, feel the desperation in his hands as they held her. "They didn't hurt you?"

"Bellatrix pulled my hair."

That made him laugh, which was good. It was laughable, especially since the statement had come out of her sounding like a toddler tattling on a sibling. Small and whiny.

"The children are upstairs. Would you like me to wake them? You can use the robe for now, but we should track down your things. Do you remember which cell you were assigned to? Who took your wand?"

"Slow down, Severus," she said, pressing her face into his chest and closing her eyes. It was warm and comfortable and safe there in his lap. She didn't want to move. "Let the children sleep; they shouldn't see me like this. My things are still at Shell Cottage; the capture was my escape plan, so I didn't take anything with me I wouldn't want to lose. I was using Bellatrix's wand."

"Tup," he said, surprising her.

"Yes, Headmaster, sir?"

"Go to Shell Cottage and retrieve Madam Snape's things."

"Yes, Headmaster, sir!"

Hermione grinned, pulling back so that she could smile at Severus properly. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?"

"You called me Madam Snape."

"It's your name."

She kissed him. "I know. It's just nice to hear it." She kissed him again.

"You are ridiculously sentimental sometimes."

"I love you, too."

"They is gone, Headmaster, sir!" Tup said. The little elf was holding Hermione's satchel in one hand and her wand in the other.

"The hell with this day," Severus muttered, helping her to her feet before getting up himself.

Hermione took her things from Tup, thanking the little elf; it wiggled its ears in a happy sort of way and disappeared. Hermione squeezed her wand tight, taking a deep breath. It was hard to believe that it had only been hours, not days or weeks, since she'd last seen the boys.

She flicked her wand, shrinking Severus's robe down to fit her, and turned to look at him while she shuffled through her satchel for shoes. He was giving orders to the portraits, sending them to their other portraits to watch for Harry and Ron.

"You may as well go and have a shower," Severus said when half the portraits in the room, including Dumbledore, had gone. "We have to wait for word back, and you'll feel better for it."

She smiled and pecked him on the lips.

"You're brilliant, did you know that?"

He smirked at her, and she quickly made her way upstairs.

The owl came while Hermione was in the shower. A big, ugly bird with mean eyes. Or maybe its eyes were perfectly normal, and he just thought they were mean because it always brought him unwelcome news.

The Dark Lord had sent him a note.

Bloody day.

He was requested—ordered —to put the Carrows on watch at Ravenclaw Tower. The Dark Lord suspected Potter would try to get into the dormitory.

"Oh shit."

"What is it?" Hermione asked. She wore jeans and a jumper, her hair braided tight against her head. She sat down in the student chair across the desk and started lacing up her dragonhide boots.

"It's here."

"What is?"

"The Dark Lord thinks Potter is coming here, to Ravenclaw Tower."

"So there's a Horcrux here."

"There must be."

"In Ravenclaw Tower?"

"Somebody would've noticed it by now if there was. An object that Dark? It would sing to the students; they would try to figure out what it was. Flitwick would've noticed."

"So it's something of Ravenclaws and Harry will assume it's in the Tower."

They stared at each other for a moment, then Hermione went upstairs to pack for the children. They'd only been in the castle for a few days, but he'd taken them shopping in Muggle London. They each had clothes and things.

Severus summoned the Carrows to his office and passed along their orders. They were practically bouncing with potential energy when they left, excited at the prospect of capturing Potter for the Dark Lord.

It made Severus sick to his stomach.

A handful of the portraits had already returned to their frames, none of them with anything to report.

"All's quiet at the Ministry."

"Nothing at St. Mungo's."

"Damn," he muttered under his breath.

When had they left? How long had they been gone? Were Bill and Fleur looking for them, or with them?

"Dad!" Sofia said, appearing on the landing. Her hair was braided back exactly like Hermione's, and she was wearing jeans and a jumper just like Hermione. Her eyes were wide and bright, excited. "Mum said we get to go to your old flat!"

"Indeed you do."

They could feel it in the air; the shit was about to hit the fan. The Dark Lord was returning from abroad, Potter was missing, and it was only a matter of time before the Death Eaters patched together what had happened at the Manor. The children needed to be hidden. They needed to be away. They needed to be someplace safe.

"In the city?"

"Mhm."

"Is there more than one bedroom?"

"No. Just one there, too."

"But Bast snores, Dad."

"He doesn't snore."

"He does."

"I don't!" Bast said, appearing at the top of the stairs. The two of them scrambled down the steps together

There was an ear-splitting alarm from Hogsmeade. It vibrated around the room as if the castle walls weren't even there. The school's wards even tingled from it.

"Oh, the hell with this day!" he snarled, startling the portraits.

"That's a bad word!" Bast said, giggling.

"What's the noise?" Sofia asked.

"It's an alarm. Something is happening in Hogsmeade," Hermione said. She'd put a plain sepia-brown robe on over her jeans and jumper, and the satchel had disappeared into a pocket. She looked haggard and anxious. Elaine had her arms wrapped around Hermione's neck.

"Bad stuff?" Sofia asked.

"Fighting?" Bast asked.

"I don't know. It's an alarm for if somebody is out in the street after they're supposed to be. It could be nothing." He smirked down at Sofia, because she looked worried. "It could be a cat."

"The cat!"

Sofia dashed off and appeared half a moment later with Crookshanks. The ugly tom was stretched out as only unwilling cats ever could, his body stretched down from where Sofia had her arms around him.

"Hello, Crooks," Hermione crooned, and the half-kneazle wriggled free to wind between her legs, purring.

"I like him," Sofia said. She squatted next to her mum, trying to pet Crookshanks too. The cat was having none of it, though, expertly dodging the smaller hand.

"The babies is ready?" Tup asked, appearing with a pop. Crookshanks darted off into the back sitting room.

"Thank you, Tup," Hermione said. Her voice didn't quake, but he could tell it was a close thing.

Why do we always have to send them away? Her thought, not his. He reached for her, squeezed her hand.

It's almost over.

That was an ominous thought—there were so many ways "over" could play out…

Hermione went with to see the children settled and put extra wards around the flat. He was alone in the office, the portraits strangely silent as they watched him lean against the edge of his desk. (There had been a stack of disciplinary request forms, but he'd knocked them to the floor when he'd leaned back. It had been cathartic.)

"Severus—" Dumbledore began just as the wards alerted him to a non-student in the castle. Whoever it was hadn't entered through the gate, but the Room of Requirement.

"What is is?" Phineas asked.

"They're the ones who set off the alarms in Hogsmeade. Aberforth must have sent them through."

"What are they thinking, coming here?"

"Fuck if I know."

He ran. The halls were empty, though the students were surely awake in their dormitories after the racket.

He'd visited the Room of Requirement several times, checking on the students in hiding. They had a good setup, especially since he'd spent that weekend convincing the castle to have a tunnel from the Room to the Hog's Head. Some of the students were even keeping up with their homework.

He burst through the door to find the Room in uproar. It was like a strange, patched-together House had won the Quidditch Cup. Potter and Weasley were in the thick of it. It all went quiet when he slammed the door open and realized he hadn't even paused to think about Disillusioning himself, sneaking and scouting before he made a move.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

He strode into the room. Students backed away from him, going for their wands.

He drew his Occlumency up around him. "You shouldn't be here," he said, his voice level.

"He hid one here," Potter said, ignoring the other students. Weasley was whispering with Longbottom, a gold galleon in hand. "Something of Ravenclaw's. And then we're down to just the snake and… me."

"You shouldn't be here. He knows you're here," Severus said. "They're coming."

"Good. He'll bring the snake," Weasley said, looking up from the galleon. He had a lopsided grin, a youthful energy, excitement in the way he was tense. He was itching for a fight, a confrontation. To do something after fighting indirectly so long.

So naïve. So hopelessly young.

"The children—"

"Evacuate them," Potter said. "Right now."

"To hell with this bloody day," Severus muttered. On his left, Finnegan shot him a surprised look; Severus glared at him.

"Is Hermione here?" Weasley asked.

"No."

"What?" Potter had paled.

"She's fine. She'll be back shortly."

He was not going to explain about hiding away their children in front of a room full of his students. Students who hated him.

"Okay," Potter said. "Right. We'll need the Order and anybody else who will fight. Do you have a way to contact them? Anybody? I need you to buy me time."

Severus had to push back a flutter of emotion. That old loyalty to Lily, that guilt, the rage. Dumbledore had raised this boy for the slaughter, and he'd done it perfectly. Harry Potter was seventeen years old and he was preparing the stage for his own death.

"I rather burned all those bridges last spring," he said dryly.

"Right," Potter said.

"Blitzy!" Severus called, and the elf appeared immediately, wringing his hands.

"Yes, Headmaster, sir?"

"Find the Heads of House and tell them to come to the Room of Requirement immediately."

"Yes, sir, Headmaster, sir!"

"I need to—"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" Seamus Finnegan burst out, seeming to speak for the crowd at large.

"It's a long story," Weasley said, grinning. "A very long story. There's a Time Turner involved, and—"

"He's on our side. Surprise," Potter said, looking over the crowd at large. "Does anybody know how to get into the Ravenclaw common room?"

Severus raised an eyebrow at him. What a stupid question. "What do you need in Ravenclaw Tower?"

"I don't know."

Severus took a very deep breath, containing a long string of explitives not appropriate for a headmaster to say in front of his pupils.

"Lovegood, take Potter to Raveclaw Tower, and for God's sake don't be seen. The Carrows will be nearby on the lookout for you."

"Right," Potter said. He pulled his Invisibility Cloak out of his back pocket and draped it over himself and Lovegood. The door appeared to open and close on its own.

"All of you," Severus said, turning to the crowd and glaring around at them. The students shifted nervously, gripping their wands. "If you are underage, you leave right now. Through the tunnel to the Hog's Head. Tell Aberforth he needs to hide you in the village. Help the students that come after."

There were some protests, mostly fifteen and sixteen year olds angry they were being sent away, but Severus wouldn't hear of it.

"Weasley. You and your sister get them through and tell Aberforth what's happening."

After a stunned moment, Weasley nodded.

"Shut it and move," the sister said, directing a few of the argumentatitve ones through.

Severus tried to take a mental count of who was leaving, but Minerva arrived only seconds later. She skidded into the Room much as he had, throwing the door open and looking around with wide eyes. He'd obviously brought her out of bed—she wore a tartan dressing gown and her hair was in a loose braid over one shoulder instead of its usual bun.

"What's happened?" she cried, distracting the students. Severus almost smiled.

"Potter is headed for Ravenclaw Tower and the Dark Lord knows it."

"Oh, Circe."

His Mark burned, and he swore. Finnegan, standing off to the side with the others of-age who had decided to stay and fight, looked impressed. Minerva noted his clenched fist and took a step closer, putting her hand on his elbow.

"The Carrows must have seen him. Damn!"

"Ravenclaw Tower?"

"Yes." He turned to Finnegan and glared. "When Slughorn, Sprout and Flitwick arrive, tell them what's going on."

"Y-yes, sir."

"A thousand points to Gryffindor," he said sarcastically and heard Minerva snort as she followed him out of the Room. Finnegan's jaw dropped open again. Severus rolled his eyes—Gryffindor was several thousand points in the negative, which hadn't been possible until he'd attached a counter display at the base of the hourglass in November; a thousand points hardly made a difference.

He Disillusioned himself just in time. Amycus Carrow stood outside the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room, glaring at the eagle-shaped knocker.

"I dunno, do I? Shut it!" he shouted. "Alecto? Alecto? Are you there? Have you got him? Open the door!

"ALECTO! If he comes, and we haven't got Potter—d'you want to go the same way as the Malfoys? ANSWER ME!"

Next to him, Minerva smoothed her braid over her shoulder and strode down the corridor.

"May I ask what you are doing, Professor Carrow?"

"Trying—to get—through this damned—door!" Amycus shouted. "Go and get Flitwick! Get him to open it, now!"

"But isn't your sister in there? Didn't Professor Flitwick let her in earlier this evening, at your urgent request? Perhaps she could open the door for you? Then you wouldn't wake up half the castle."

Severus caught himself smiling.

"She ain't answering, you old besom! You open it! Garn! Do it, now!"

"Certainly, if you wish it," Minerva said coldly. She lifted the knocker and let it fall gently.

"Where do Vanished object go?" it asked.

"Into nonbeing, which is to say, everything," Minerva replied.

"Nicely phrased," said the eagle door knocker, and the door sprang open.

Carrow dashed into the room wand-first. Minerva followed, and Severus slipped in behind her. Alecto Carrow was on the floor, and Amycus froze in his tracks, eyes fixed on her.

"What've they done, the little whelps?" he screamed. "I'll Cruciate the lot of 'em till they tell me who did it—and what's the Dark Lord going to say? We haven't got him, and they've gorn and killed her!"

"She's only Stunned," Minerva said impatiently. She bent down next to Alecto, her face carefully blank. "She'll be perfectly all right."

"No she bludgering well won't!" bellowed Amycus. "Not after the Dark Lord gets hold of her! She's gorn and sent for him. I felt me Mark burn, and he thinks we've got Potter!"

"'Got Potter'?" said Minerva sharply, standing. "What do you mean, 'got Potter'?"

"He told us Potter might try and get inside Ravenclaw Tower, and to send for him if we caught him!"

"Why would Harry Potter try to get inside Ravenclaw Tower? Potter belongs in my House!"

"We was told he might come in here!" Amycus snarled. "I dunno why, do I?"

Minerva looked around the room, eyes seeking any sign of Harry under his Cloak. Severus scanned the room, too, and was glad when he didn't see any sign of him or Lovegood.

"We can push it off on the kids," Amycus said. "Yeah, that's what we'll do. We'll say Alecto was ambushed by the kids, them kids up there, and we'll say they forced her to press her Mark, and that's why he got a false alarm… He can punish them. Couple of kids more or less, what's the difference."

Severus spun to glare at Amycus, wand in hand. This time, he would hex the man. This time…

"Only the difference between truth and lies, courage and cowardice," Minerva snapped, her face pale. "A difference, in short, which you and your sister seem unable to appreciate. But let me make one thing very clear. You are not going to pass off your many ineptitudes on the students of Hogwarts. I shall not permit it."

"Excuse me?" Amycus took two quick steps forward until he was offensively close to Minerva, his face within inches of hers. She refused to back away, but looked down at him like he was something disgusting he had found growing in an old boot. "It's not a case of what you'll permit, Minerva McGonagall. Your time's over. It's us what's in charge here now, and you'll back me up or you'll pay the price."

He spat in her face.

That, of course, was all it took for Potter to lose his temper. He burst from beneath his Cloak, raised his wand, and said, "You shouldn't have done that."

Amycus spun around, and Potter shouted, "Crucio!"

The Unforgivable blasted the Death Eater off his feet. He writhed through the air like a drowning man, howling and thrashing in pain. He landed with a crunch and the tinkle of breaking glass, and crumpled to the floor. It was very gratifying to see.

"I see what Bellatrix meant," Potter said. "You need to really mean it."

"Potter!" whispered Minerva, clutching her heart. "Potter—you're here! What—? How—?" She took a breath. "Potter, that was foolish!"

"He spat at you," said Potter. Severus rolled his eyes.

"Potter, I—that was very—very gallant of you—but don't you realize—?"

"Yeah, I do," Potter said, sounding calm and level all of a sudden. "Professor McGonagall, Voldemort's on the way."

"Oh, are we allowed to say the name now?" Lovegood asked, sounding politely curious. She pulled the Cloak off, folding it over her arm.

Severus lifted his Disillusionment, noting the surprised twitch from the younger two. He almost rolled his eyes again.

"You're an idiot, Harry Potter," he said. Potter just shrugged and turned to Lovegood.

"I don't think it makes any difference what we call him. He already knows where I am."

Severus raised an eyebrow, meeting Potter's eyes and easily seeing through them to his recent vision. The Dark Lord was sailing fast over a dark lake in a ghostly green boat, checking on his Horcrux. It was only a matter of time.

"What do you need?" Severus asked.

"Time," Harry said, turning and pacing the common room a moment, looking at the bust of Rowena Ravenclaw each time he passed it. "And the diadem of Ravenclaw."

"The d-diadem of Ravenclaw?" Minerva spluttered, looking back and forth between Potter and Severus. "Hasn't it been lost for centuries?" She put her fists on her hips and glared at him. "Potter, it was madness, utter madness, for you to enter this castle—"

"I had to," Potter said. "Professor, there's something hidden here that I'm supposed to find, and it could be the diadem—if I could just speak to Professor Flitwick."

Amycus was coming around, so Severus dealt with him. He considered killing him outright, but that wouldn't be right—Carrow still mostly unconscious and in the common room where children did their homework. Instead, he Stunned the pale, hunched man again and lashed him tightly to his pale, hunched sister.

"Potter," Minerva said, turning to face him again after watching Severus restrain the Carrows. "If He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named does indeed know that you are here—"

Potter went to one knee as she spoke, clutching his forehead.

"Potter, are you all right?" Minerva asked, stepping closer.

Severus grabbed him under the armpits, hoisting him back to his feet.

"Time's running out, Voldemort's getting nearer," Potter reported, finally getting his legs beneath him properly and taking his own weight. He looked earnestly at Minerva, and said, "Professor, I'm acting on Dumbledore's orders, I must find what he wanted me to find! But we've got to get the students out while I'm searching the castle—it's me Voldemort wants, but he won't care about killing a few more or less, not now—"

"You're acting on Dumbledore's orders?" Minerva repeated, eyes flitting from Potter to Severus, then drew herself up, resigned. "We shall secure the school against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named while you search for this—this object."

"Is that possible?" Potter asked.

"I think so," Minerva said dryly, meeting Severus's eyes. "We teachers are rather good at magic, you know. I am sure we will be able to hold him off for a while if we all put our best efforts into it."

"The tunnel in the Room of Requirement comes out at the Hog's Head. Weasley went with the first group to forewarn Aberforth," Severus said.

"Severus, it's hundreds of students. It's going to take time…"

"Meanwhile the Dark Lord is concentrating on the school boundaries. They won't be interested in anyone who's Disapparating out of the Hog's Head," Severus pointed out.

"There's something in that."

After a moment's thought, Minerva pointed her wand at the Carrows, wrapping them up in a silver net and hoisting them into the air to dangle beneath the ceiling like two large, ugly… Death Eaters.

"Where have the other Heads got to?" Severus wondered out loud. He'd expected Filtwick to burst in on them quite awhile ago.

He stepped out into the corridor, but there was still no sign. After a moment, Minerva followed him.

"I'll send a Patronus, shall I?" she asked, lifting her wand.

"You'd better. They certainly won't respond to mine."

She smirked at him, began the spell, and then Flitwick was with them.

"Minerva!" Flitwick called, approaching at a run.

Sprout was sprinting down the corridor as well, Slughorn panting along behind.

Severus realized what they must look like there in the corridor with their wands drawn a moment before they attacked.

"You'll do no more murder at Hogwarts!" Flitwick shouted, and his spell animated a suit of armor down the hall. It rushed him, grabbed him.

"Filius! No!" Minerva shouted, pointing her wand at the suit of armor to help, but it was still holding him, clattering and crushing.

He slipped its grasp and sent it soaring across the hall into the wall. It fell to pieces, the helmet rolling dramatically along the floor toward Flitwick. Severus spun, standing even with Minerva and facing the three other Heads of House warily. He kept his wand up and ready, but he didn't want to cast any spells.

"What have you done to her?" Flitwick asked, coming closer, eyes narrowed.

"Filius!" Minerva snapped, exasperated.

"I have done nothing," Severus said as evenly and placatingly as he could muster.

Flitwick made an ugly scoffing noise.

Potter chose that moment to step out of the common room with Lovegood in tow.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Potter!" the three at the end of the hall cried, halting their approach. It seemed to finally break through their first impression of the scene.

"Potter, what…?" Pomona asked, her eyes going from face to face, finally settling on Minerva. "Minerva?"

The Dark Lord chose that moment to Summon him. His Mark burned like it had never burned before, making his vision go red around the edges for a moment.

"To hell with this bloody day," he said, forcing his fist to unclench.

"Severus?" Minerva asked, her hand on his shoulder. He couldn't remember her putting it there.

"I'm being Summoned. He'll want me to bring him through the wards." Minerva looked blind-sided. Time. Potter needs more time. "I will tell him that the professors have turned on me, driven me from the school. I will tell him that the wards have closed themselves to me." He looked away from the others, focusing on Minerva and Potter. "Lock it down. Buy him time. Do what needs to be done."

"Of—of course, Severus," Minerva said.

"Try not to die," Potter said. "Hermione would…"

Severus nodded. They'd known this was coming. This was the reason they'd resisted. But now… the children.

Fuck.

"Good luck," he said perfunctorily to Potter. It seemed like the thing to say—they would likely never see each other again, never speak again. One or both of them would be dead before the dawn.

He glanced at Minerva and nodded to her solemnly, but she spoiled his smooth exit by throwing herself at him and hugging him tight. Surprised, he stumbled back a step before hugging her back.

"Enough, enough," he said, finally managing to push her back. Pomona, Flitwick and Slughorn were standing closer now, and it made him uncomfortable. "This was why I never bloody told anybody when I was leaving."

"Bugger off," Minerva said.

Severus smirked, gave her an exaggerated courtly bow, then swept his cloak around himself and shot toward the nearest window.

A/N: Thus begins the Battle of Hogwarts, I suppose. Next chapter late tomorrow.

(Sorry I missed another coffee break, Mystical G Panther)

Cheers!

—M