Chapter 6: Divided We Fall

The room was empty when he got there. Sansa Stark (he refused to think of her as his wife) was missing, as was Miss Granger. Severus did not know whether to be relieved or worried. On the one hand, seeing Peter Pettigrew alive and well had shocked and unbalanced him enough that his emotions were in a mess. It wouldn't do for Lady Sansa or Granger to see him in that state. On the other hand, it was obvious that Sansa Stark was in very real danger. Her position did not seem to be any guarantee to safeguard her, and the King would likely attack her whenever the opportunity arose.

Severus was extremely aware of the fact that there was little he could do to help without a wand. Wandless or accidental magic was unpredictable, potions, time consuming, and then there was the matter of access to the ingredients. The only way to maneuver towards safety would be if Potter and his gang would co-operate with him. They, he noticed, did have wands, and indeed even used them in this world without consequence. Unfortunately, Potter and Weasley were hotheads, unwilling to listen to reason.

Yes, it was true that he had disbelieved them with respect to the events in the Shrieking Shack, but they had done little to convince him about the truth of their story. Insisting they were right, that Black was set up by Pettigrew, Weasley lying on the dirty floor, his leg broken by Black himself - it all pointed to them being confunded. It was hardly his fault that they were so allergic to learning that none of them were even aware of the confundus charm or elementary mind magic.

The werewolf, at least should have known better. If he had indeed seen evidence of Pettigrew, the least he should have done was go to Dumbledore, or McGonagall or even Snape himself. Everything that occurred that evening pointed to the collusion of Lupin and Black as Severus had already suspected. Lupin's conduct was in line with his suspicions. If Lupin had acted with an ounce of sense, Pettigrew would be behind bars, Black free, and Lupin would have even managed an Order of Merlin! Moron.

Now they were in a strange world, there was a mass murderer, the murderer of Lily Evans in this very building. Said mass murderer had the protection of the Lannisters, who were the ruling family here, and obviously not his friends. Plus, the King wanted to rape his wife, and everyone knew it, and didn't care. Brilliant.

There was no point sitting in his rooms waiting for Granger and Sansa Stark's return. He'd better find them lest they get into some sort of mess. Granted, Granger attracted less trouble in general than Potter, but who knew what Stark's propensity for trouble was. Plus, Potter & Co. needed to know that Pettigrew was here, and that he had Lannister backing. Granger was likely the easiest of the lot to deal with, not withstanding her know-it-all holier-than-thou attitude...

Obscured by a particularly lush elm, in a small wooded area, he heard them before he saw them. It had taken him hours...

Granger was talking. It was obvious that she was trying to draw out Stark in conversation and win the girl's trust, and it was equally obvious that Stark did not wish to engage with Granger.

Severus crept closer, as silently as he could, making sure to hide himself behind the trunk of a particularly large tree trunk. He had excellent hearing, and the wood was silent enough that he could hear their voices with the least amount of strain.

"...I hope he didn't force you to do anything you didn't want..."

"I am honoured to be wed to my Lord husband" Bullshit, but thank you.

"The sheets had blood...did he cause you any pain? You really need not be afraid. I am here to help with anything you may need..." That impertinent little shit! How dare she imply...

Severus could see Stark stiffen at these words. It was obvious that Granger was making Sansa uncomfortable too.

"Thank you, Lady Spicer. I am loyal, as is my Lord husband..." Good girl "...and we will always carry out our duties to the King."

Granger's eyes widened comically.

Shit. Granger had obviously taken duty to mean consummation. Did everyone leave their minds in the gutter?

Well, granted he had left his stained bandage on the pristine sheets precisely to cause confusion and buy time for both himself and (he shuddered) his wife, but he was a teacher for heaven's sake! A reluctant one, sure, but a head of house, in loco parentis, and had been for nearly as long as Granger had been alive. He wouldn't tell Granger. As if she would believe him anyway. Let her think the worst. He couldn't deny it anyway without endangering himself and the Stark girl he'd been wed to.

This complicated matters, though. He wondered if Potter and Weasley had been informed. They all needed to work together; they had already hated him and now would think of him the worst kind of man.

"You really need not worry," the Granger girl was telling Sansa, her tone kind, "if you don't trust me, Ron and Harry will surely help. You know Ser Ronnel Tarly and Hareld Frey? They are my friends and very honourable. They don't tolerate injustice..."

"Lord Hareld is very kind..."

The girl was blushing!

"...He disarmed Ser Meryn at the wedding."

Of course she had to have a crush on Potter!

Granger took that as encouragement.

"They don't like Prince Severus Martell, either," Granger was saying, "we know he can be a bit of a bully. If he dared force you into anything, trust me, he will be praying for mercy by the time we are done with him."

It was clear on Granger's face. Her assumption that he had raped his young wife. The sick little fuck. Granger and her friends had already actively undermined his authority, he could only imagine what they would do if they thought him a rapist.

Granger's words seemed to shake Sansa Stark as well.

"What has Prince Severus done?" Sansa's voice was tremulous.

The girl was afraid. Severus regretted losing his temper with the little idiots that morning. Granger was going to scare her further.

"He threatened to poison my friend's pet once..."

All colour left Sansa's face at this, and the girl staggered. Granger extended her arm to stabilise her. Instead of taking her hand, Sansa backed away. Granger inched closer to help. As she took another step back, Sansa tripped on the root and fell on her back, her hair fanning the ground and her eyes landing directly on Severus's stunned face. Seeing him there, and probably deducing that he had heard all, she let out a heart-wrenching sob.

What a mess! It didn't matter what anybody thought, now.

He had idiots who hated him to protect, and one of them was on the verge of complete collapse. He did not know what to say. He did not know what to do.

So even as Granger was glaring at him, he said what he came to say in the first place.

"I saw Peter Pettigrew run into the Lannister rooms."

Granger's expression did not change, neither did her glare soften. An intake of breath was the only clue that she had heard him. Granger was still glaring at him. He knew she knew that he had heard all that she had said. Her strong unbroken eye contact conveyed all her disdain and disgust. It told him without any words what she thought of him, and that she didn't care that he had heard, that she would willingly say it again to his face.

Bloody Gryffindor...

"You have something to say to me, Lady Spicer?"

"Indeed I do! How dare you take advantage of a helpless muggle girl? I knew you were an unfair bully, but I had no idea that you were so sick, so low, so pathetic, so depraved to rape this girl! Tell me Professor," she spat, "was this your first time, or do you make a habit out of it? The only way you can get any, is it? Do you go after muggles, or do you target students too...I swear to you, that if you have harmed a single hair on her head, I will eviscerate you. Only two spells: a petrification hex and a levitating charm. Both first year spells, and you know I'm rather good. All I have to do is drop you from fifty feet and you will be dead. No one will be the wiser..."

Granger was looking at Sansa now, as if waiting for a go ahead, her hand tightly clenched around her wand. She was only waiting for the word, and Severus would be murdered by a buck-toothed, self-righteous, know-it-all. He couldn't help but think back on the events surrounding Sirius Black's arrest, and neither could he resist the impulse that surely had come over Black too: he laughed at the absurdity of it all! He cackled like the witches of lore, manically till the tears came from his eyes. Of all the things he could have been accused of...he who had given up his own choices so that she whom he loved could safely exercise hers! He who had enslaved himself for a greater good that he wasn't even sure he believed in!

Did it matter whether he lived or died? It wasn't as if he was in Hogwarts or in their own world where Voldemort was a threat. What meaning did his life have here if they were unable to return? Severus had always expected an ignominious death given the nature of his real job, but well why not. Better to be killed in righteous rage than tortured to death by a sadistic madman. At least falling to death would be quick.

There was no need for any pretence now. "Do go ahead Miss Granger, please. There should be more of me to collect if you take me up a hundred feet. I give you leave to use bits of me in potions should you wish." He'd take his final chance at morbid humour. "I only ask, should you ever get back, let Dumbledore know why you killed me." Dumbledore, he knew would piece things together, and he hoped Dumbledore would send them all straight to Azkaban.

Even as he readied himself for his demise, Severus wasn't sure why he was shocked when all his muscles froze.

Wingardium Leviosa

He was floating, the red keep, and the ocean looking gorgeous in the light of dusk. Moments later, he'd likely be dead. Might as well enjoy the sight, he thought through tears, whose origins he didn't care to examine.


Sansa watched wide-eyed as her husband floated in the air, stiff as Joffrey had been just a night ago. Lady Spicer was her saviour! The Sorceress, who had stopped Joffrey. Who was about to kill her husband on account of what she thought he had done to her. Never had anyone come to Sansa's help since her Lord Father's execution, and she couldn't help but feel extremely relived and grateful, even as a voice at the back of her head insisted sorcery was wrong. What did the voice know? Everything she had thought was right, her duty, what was taught to her was wrong...

Her husband was now floating over the turrets of the red keep, a speck barely visible through the dark purple sky. He was about to be killed on her account, and Sansa did not know what to think of it. Prince Severus had been kind to her. Did he deserve to die? She didn't know him, but Lady Spicer did say that he had tried to murder someone's pet. Joffrey had also been kind to her. He had been very gallant, very gracious, and then he had killed Lady. Then he had killed Father. But Prince Severus did not remind her of Prince Joffrey, and getting him killed would only get her married to another, unless Lady Spicer could help her escape.

It came to her then, that the Spicers were bannermen of Lannisters. Lady Spicer surely was trapping her. If Sansa made mention of escape they'd cut her head off. After all, how did the sorceress know what the prince had done? Of all the cruelties to state, how had the sorceress known to use the one that would hurt Sansa the most? Everyone knew about Lady. This had the queen's fingerprints all over it.

Moreover, Ser Dontos had told Sansa, just before Lady Spicer had found her in the Godswood, that Lord Tyrion was up, and that she would have been wed to him, had he been up earlier. That the only reason they married her off to Severus Martell was so that the Tyrells did not get Winterfell. He could say nothing else, as he had left swiftly after Lady Spicer's arrival.

If Prince Severus was killed, surely they'd marry her off to the imp? Then when they got her child, they'd kill her. If Lady Spicer was indeed a friend, she would stop if Sansa asked her to spare Prince Severus. If she was a creature of the queen, she would try her best to do whatever it took to dissolve her marriage. Was it too late to make her stop, though? Her husband was plummeting down from the sky, faster than a cannon ball. His death would be her fault.

"Please, don't!" Sansa screamed

The descent slowed, as if a giant invisible mattress was breaking his fall, but it didn't stop. Then, he was floating again, going back higher...a speck once more.

"What happened? Surely you want to be rid of him? Did he not force you? Please don't be afraid Lady Sansa. I am more powerful than you think, and I can help you. I can protect you. From everyone. It does not matter who they are. I am on your side. No one will be able to harm you."

It was a trap! Sansa's worst fears were confirmed. The sorceress wanted a confession. They wanted to dissolve the marriage in one way or the other. They'd say he was cruel, that he'd forced her to do unnatural things (he was Dornish after all), and they'd set aside their marriage if she confessed that she was forced to do them. Then they'd marry her to the imp. If she confessed the truth about the blood, that it was his, they'd know that she hadn't been bedded, and they'd still set aside her marriage, and marry her to the imp. They had made her father confess to things that never happened, things he never did, why did she think that they would treat her any differently?

"He was kind to me! He didn't force me! I swear! Please let him down! Don't kill him!"

She was sobbing. The sorceress face was grim, but she looked at Sansa kindly. False kindness, Sansa knew.

"I saw the blood, my lady," the sorceress was saying gently, trying to lull Sansa back into a false sense of security, Sansa was now certain.

But Sansa did not know what else to say. Her Septa had not prepared her for interrogation. How could she confess? Telling the truth would mean dissolving her marriage. The prince was falling again, gaining speed, as he fell. She would have to tell the truth. She wouldn't have murder on her conscience.

"It was his blood! Please! It was his! He took off his bandage. His fall after Ser Meryn hit him...he was bleeding...Please don't kill him! I will confess! I haven't been bedded. Set aside the marriage, please, I will marry him! I will marry the imp!"

The sorceress looked at Sansa in shock as if she couldn't believe her ears.

Whatever magic was responsible for Prince Severus's state abruptly stopped, and he was plummeting, his arms and legs flailing, as if somehow flapping them would work like wings.

"Shit." The sorceress drew out her stick once again, and pointed it at the flailing man plunging towards the ground. She shouted some strange words, and then, the prince's descent slowed. A minute or so later he landed gently on the ground, feet first. His face was wet with tears, but his expression was closed off and cold.

Sansa ran to him and wrapped her arms around him, in relief. She looked at the sorceress with more courage than she felt. It was a last stand, she knew. It was likely to be as futile as well. But she was a Stark of Winterfell, and she would kill herself before she gave them her claim.

"Lady Spicer, I have told you the truth, which you have got out of me by force. There was no honour in that. If you use what you have learned to have my marriage dissolved, I swear to you by all the old Gods, that I will hurl myself from the tower, rather than allow the imp to have my claim. And before I die, I will let everyone know that you are a sorceress and have you burnt alive."


The walk to Maegor's holdfast occurred in silence. Never had Hermione felt so utterly stupid. She had really made a mess. She had nearly killed Snape. Twice. And made all sorts of accusations that well, shit. If looked from a different point of view, Hermione was aware that she had practically tortured Sansa Stark into a confession that would, for her, have grave consequences. And then Sansa Stark had threatened her!

At least Snape looked fine. Sort of. He could walk. So he was fine, right. He had to be. He was a wizard, right.

She coulnd't believe she'd done that. She'd called him a pervert. Accused him of being a rapist. Then nearly killed him. Yikes. No apology would be enough. And all he'd told her in spite of knowing what she thought of him was that Pettigrew was in the holdfast. Where they were heading towards now.

Fuck.

Hermione hated to swear, but honestly, nothing but Ron's vocabulary could do justice to this fiasco.

And she was the only one armed. Snape hadn't even asked for her wand. Perhaps he felt that since she had a go at him, she could probably eviscerate Wormtail as well.

And Sansa. She was shaking like a leaf.

And Hermione had caused it. She felt sick.

And then she saw them. Oh good heavens, no!

Remus and Sirius were heading their way as was Ron. They had spotted their group, and from their angry expressions and glares towards Snape, had likely heard the tale of the bloody sheet too. Hermione had to head them off before they had a go at Snape. It was the least she could do after what she had done. If only there was a spell that could stop the wrong people from overhearing...

Hermione turned back to reassure Snape that she would take care of it, but Snape looked absolutely blank. Eerily expressionless. It was as if he were an animated puppet. His eyes looked empty. So not completely fine. Bugger.

Before any of them could say a word, Hermione started to speak, her voice ringing loudly in the silence.

"I verified everything. Prince Severus has acted in the most honourable manner possible. His lady wife is satisfied. Please allow me to escort Princess Sansa to the holdfast as the hour grows late, as is my duty, and a particularly diseased rat stalks the halls..."

There, that should clue them in a bit...


The tall doors closed shut behind them, reminding Sansa of how suffocating the thick walls of Maegor's holdfast could be. They were back in their rooms.

Prince Severus hadn't said a word to her. He had just been staring blankly at nothing in particular. The sorceress - she was no lady - had just left. She had gone to bring food, she said. As if Sansa would touch a bite of whatever the sorceress brought. She would need to make her own arrangements, for herself and her husband. Uncut fruit. Surely that couldn't be poisoned or magicked? And fruit was nothing that they could deny her. She'd ask a servant to get her some from the kitchens.

"My prince, worry not. That sorceress will not harm you. If she does, she will lose Winterfell. I have told her this. I am sorry that my lack of courage caused you harm. I will bring back some fruit, which should be safe to eat..."

They stopped her at the door.

"Prince Severus is under guard until the Dornish party arrives, Princess, as are you. There have been rumours that harm may be brought to you and the prince to spark enmity between his Grace and his Dornish subjects."

This was it then. They'd kill him when Prince Oberyn came, and cast blame on someone else. Maybe an accident. Or maybe they'd poison him slowly. Let him die in the presence of the Dornish and wash all blame away from themselves. Claim he'd been ill. Then after they'd married her off to the imp, they'd wait for her to give them a babe to control, and then she'd be dead as well.

That wouldn't happen, she reassured herself.

Not while Robb was alive and winning battle after battle. He would come to rescue her, defeat Joffrey and she'd go back to Winterfell or to Dorne, and she'd be happy.

She drifted off to sleep sitting at the desk, with thoughts of Winterfell in her mind.

It was almost dawn when the door flew open. Joffrey was standing at the threshold in glee, his guards flanking him.

Prince Severus, now sitting up in bed, and looking worse for wear, had been asleep in bed, fully clothed, his boots still on.

"Lord Frey has sent me a most becoming wedding present, my lady: a wolf's head sewn on your brother's body. It is on its way now. I have asked that it be made guest of honour at my own table on that happy occasion."