I turned around to greet Snape, half planning to call him Mrs Snape for the rest of the evening.

But it wasn't Snape who crept through the door.

It was the creepy lord Mordon.

Chapter 13:

Fear boiled inside my chest while Mordon closed the door behind him with a click. I knew what he was here for and it was not a friendly chat. Snape refused him his way in the dining hall, so he had come to take what he wanted by force.

The only way he could have gotten past my protective spells was if he, too, was a wizard. And sure enough. While I backed into the wall, Mordon pulled out a wand from his pocket and pointed it at me.

His pudgy lips curled into a cruel smile. "My my" he tutted "I did not know you were a witch. Such a sweet thing as you. You put some strong wards on your door, but you had not expected me to be a wizard too did you? That will cost you."

I felt my heart thunder in alarm while I gripped my wand behind me. The timing could not have been worse. Had I been fully conscious it would have been one thing, but with the pending rain, my vision became increasingly foggy. I could hardly keep steady on my feet, let alone fight off a wizard with the intention to assault me.

In an attempt to stall Mordon while I figured out what to do, I tried to yell; "Help!" but the word only came out as a breathless whisper.

"Oh" said Mordon coyly. "You think you can call your husband for the rescue, did you? Worry not my child, I have made sure your husband is out of our way tonight. He will never hear of what happens between us."

"What have you done to him!?"

"Your worry for him is sweet" mocked Mordon while he opened the lace in the neck of his shirt, slowly and demonstratively. "But I cannot believe you care so much about him as you claim. Why you practically invited me to your room tonight."

"What have you done to him!?" I repeated more fiercely, refusing to look at Mordons fingers coyly playing with his lace.

"Never fear" sighed Mordon "I have only put him under a sleeping spell. Comfortable and oblivious to our nightly affair."

"You will never get away with this!" I exclaimed and tried my best to stay upright without revealing my current state to Mordon.

"Get away with it? Why I already have my dear. Why do you think I live in such luxury? I have my court doing my every bidding. All the women in the country at my disposal, with a little help from the confundus charm of course, but why should I not use the tools I have been given by God to help me get what I want?" Again, Mordons mouth twisted into a cruel smile.

At that moment I knew what I had to do. I needed to contact Snape. I could not defeat Mordon on my own, and Snape was the only person who could save me. Also, when the rain started to fall, I would not be the one to be assaulted . . . Snape would.

I didn't wish a fate like this on my worst enemy and Snape was currently a friend. No matter how annoying he was normally, he deserved to know what was going on.

When The Switch had finally come so far I could reach out and feel Snapes presence somewhere beneath me, I called his name in my mind. 'Severus!' but his mind was shrouded in the blissful darkness of sleep.

'SEVERUS!' I cried again, trying to stir him from the magically induced sleep while also trying to concentrate on Mordon.

"You will be back by his side by the morrow having forgotten everything that happens tonight, and he will be none the wiser" continued Mordon, unaware that I was not paying attention.

Then his voice suddenly turned low and threatening "But tonight you belong to me."

He thrust a spell at me that I didn't know. I barely deflected it and got pushed further back into the wall. While I parried a few more spells I nudged Snapes mind with my own, trying desperately to wake him. But he didn't stir before I literally screamed his name out loud in front of Mordon. Mordon didn't let himself be deterred by that sort of thing. He was confident of his own abilities and was convinced no one would disturb us while he had his fun with me.

I could feel through our increasingly stronger connection that Snape had heard me. He was utterly confused but must have been able to pick up on my feelings of panic because he shot up from his bed and ran for the door. At first, he had intended to apparate straight into my room, but he dispersed of that idea quickly, knowing that in our current mid-switch state, he would definitely splinch himself. Instead he ran for the door. Now that I had finally managed to wake Snape I could concentrate on my own predicament and only pay loose attention to what he was doing. However, he met trouble immediately when he realized he was locked in. Damn Mordon and his stupid precautions! Snape tried whatever spell he could think of to open the door, but it refused to budge and stayed locked. Meanwhile, I blocked a particularly powerful spell from Mordon that lighted up the room in a bright red colour.

Finally, Snape gave up, stepped away from the door and pointed his wand at it.

"Bombarda!"

We both shouted the spell at the same time, but while Snape blew the door off its hinges, I missed my target and blasted a random piece of furniture instead.

For all it was worth, Mordon seemed confused as to why I couldn't keep on my feet, but he found his bearings too soon. My vision blurred completely as Mordon disarmed me. "Don't try to fight me woman, I know you want this as much as I do" he said while his fingers wrapped around my throat. Now I truly panicked but there was nothing I could do. The dizziness was too strong and Mordon slammed me into the wall.

For a moment I was two people at once. I was trying to hit Mordons nose while he strangled me but I was also running through the castle corridor towards my room. The two visions blurred together before the corridor finally became clearer and took over. All I could see from the other perspective was a vision of the vile man who whispered an indistinct threat in my ear. I staggered along as fast as my legs could carry me up the stairs to the floor above and kicked in the door of my room.

Mordon had moved the girl to the bed and pinned her arms down, but when I entered she headbutted him swiftly in the nose. He let go of her arms and covered his nose with his hands when it started bleeding, but he still pinned her down with his legs until I stupefied him and blasted him away.

He crashed into the opposite wall like a rag doll.

Snape rolled off the bed and landed in a sitting position on the floor. He held his hand to his face which now both had some nice shades of green and yellow on one side and was also developing a black eye on the other. His eyes were shut tight in pain and he was barely holding back a whimper. I collapsed on my knees in front of him and examined his face.

The only words I could utter were "Merlin! Oh Merlin. I'm so sorry! Merlin, are you okay?" My breath was uneven and ragged, and my voice was shaking. I found my wand and tried to touch his face to make him turn to me, but he flinched away and hissed. I knew he was in pain, but at first, I thought the reason why he flinched away was because of me. Because he blamed me for this situation, or because he thought me just another man about to assault him. Later I would realise that thought was ridiculous, but the thought made me hesitate to touch him again.

I could heal all his injuries easily, but my hands were shaking badly. I was still in shock; my breath was uneven and ragged, and I kept uttering nonsense. Tears were welling up in the corners of my eyes.

"Take your time" said a voice and a hand wrapped around my wrist. Snape emitted a cold calmness that only people who had been through the war could put on. It occurred to me he was trying to soothe me. Of course, he was hardly good at it. His voice was not soothing at all, but at least he tried and for all intents and purposes, it worked. "Take a deep breath and remember, episkey is the spell for healing a bruise" he instructed, giving my wrist a little squeeze.

I took a deep breath and shakily focused on my task.

"Now, we need to get out of here" he said calmly when I finished his last bruise. "Mordon will wake up any second, and we should be out by then." Through our strange mental link, I could sense his chest was tight, but he held my gaze steadily and determinedly.

He was taking charge.

"I do not care if Mordon is out or not, we will not stay in this castle any longer than necessary."

I nodded and wiped away a treacherous tear that fell from my left eye "Yeah."

"Now get up and help me sit on the bed" he ordered.

"What?" I said in confusion "Can you not stand?"

"No" said Snape and looked at the floor suddenly. "He hit me with a numbing charm. I cannot move my legs."

I cursed under my breath. My heart continued to hammer wildly against my chest but now I had to fight off the nausea that threatened to overwhelm me as well. Numbing charms had no counter spell. We had to wait until the effect wore off by itself.

"Okay . . ." I said finally when I felt I had collected my bearings again. "Then I'll have to carry you."

"We need to fix this mess first" said Snape and tried to pull himself up on the bed without my help. He got nowhere until I pulled him up by his arms and placed him on the edge of the bed.

I looked around the room. The drawer had tipped and the mirror on the wall was broken. If someone discovered this mess, we were screwed. Especially since this was lord Mordons castle and he could serve them any lie he wanted.

"You're right" I said. Then I summoned Snapes wand and gave it to him before we both brought our wands in a wide arch. The drawer righted itself up and the mirror pieced itself together and hung itself on the wall.

We directed our attention to Mordon on the floor. He was bleeding from a wound in the back of his head, but he was still breathing.

I wanted nothing more than to kill him on the spot. The link between us told me that Snape was thinking the same thing. But when I pointed my wand at him, Snape stopped me. "Don't!" he said warningly.

"He's done this before, Severus. All those poor girls . . !" I said, and noticed my voice still shook.

"I know" he said "but killing the Lord of the house is virtually suicide. His soldiers will hunt us down and have us killed. And the timeline. . . well, we have no idea how it will be affected."

I stared down at Snape, who looked so small and fragile suddenly where he sat on the bed. "He doesn't deserve to live" I stated.

Snape gave a humourless laugh. "There are many people who do not deserve the gift of life, miss Tonks, but are you ready to sacrifice your soul for their sake?"

"I think my soul can handle killing a monster like him." Right after I said it I realized how childish that sounded. I knew exactly what happened to your soul when you killed someone, no matter how evil the victim was.

When I turned my gaze back to Snape I saw a look in him I had never seen before. Worry, tiredness and resignation.

"You know it will not" he stated.

I knew it would not.

It was strange how Snapes words made me feel both stupid and relieved at the same time. I was better than Mordon. I could not kill him. But at the same time, it reminded me of how great the age difference between us was. Snape had seen a lot more to life than I gave him credit for. And he was a teacher for a reason. Perhaps I should have granted him more respect while I was at school. Had he not been a total bastard that is.

Snape did have a point. But Mordon did not deserve to continue his exploits of young, innocent girls anymore. I still wanted to do something about it. I turned when I noticed something on the floor next to my feet and I bent to pick it up.

It was Mordons wand.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked Snape while I held up the wand. Snape gave me a wicked smile and for once we understood each other perfectly.

I broke it.

The sound gave me a rush of satisfactory glee.

Then I walked over to Mordons unconscious body to glare at it. "Obliviate him" instructed Snape "then bring him here and lay him on the bed."

I did as he asked me and obliviated every trace of us in Mordons memory before I levitated him to the bed. Then I stuck his broken wand underneath his unconscious backside, trying to make it look like he had crushed it with his large body.

While I worked on Mordon, Snape sat completely still with his wand half raised and a concentrated expression on his face. After a minute I realized why. A large string of objects flew through the now open door and piled itself in front of Snape. Four woollen blankets, a table cloth, a pair of cloaks, some towels, two water satchels and a near mountain of food, including an entire turkey.

But no extra dress and no brooms appeared.

"There are no brooms in the castle" informed Snape as if he had read my mind. Nor in the village nearby." There was an air of disappointment in his voice. The main reason why I hadn't done this already was because I didn't want to do too much magic in the castle. Imagine what would happen if the inhabitants of the castle suddenly saw a bunch of flying food? But right now, like Snape, I cared little of caution. All I wanted as to get out of here.

"So, that means we have to travel with horses" I concluded immediately.

But Snape didn't seem to like the idea. "I do not know how to ride." He said. obviously reluctant to admit there was something he didn't know.

"Knowing you, you'll learn that in less than a day."

Snape hesitated, clearly baffled by my compliment but still glaring. Probably for good measure. "Fine" he yielded "fine, we will take a horse. But only one" he added when I was about to open my mouth. "I cannot ride, nor learn how to ride like this" he gestured to his legs "and bringing another will only slow us down" he said determinedly. His face revealed an apologetic streak, clearly expecting me to be repulsed by the idea of riding the same horse as him.

Before I could protest he turned his gaze to the food on the floor, now neatly resting on top of the tablecloth which was flattened out like a blanket on the floor. "Tie the ends together and use the tablecloth like a sack. It will do its purpose until we can find something better. But we have no time to enlarge a pouch or a satchel to a preferable size. You'll have to make do. If you find you cannot levitate both me and the bag you can levitate-"

"That will not be necessary" I interrupted, smiling for the first time since Mordon entered my room. I accioed the small backpack I had brought for dinner and opened it. "I enlarged this backpack before you arrived through the wardrobe. I knew it would come in handy if we ever were to travel. Also, I needed a project. A goal to keep me sane . . ." I turned away from Snape suddenly, keeping my eyes on the pile of food.

"You have thought ahead" was all he said. There was a clear hint of approval in his voice, and I couldn't help the smug smile it brought on my face. Approval from Severus Snape was hard to achieve.

In fact, I was very proud of that backpack. I had early on decided it was a good idea to use a widening charm on it to make room for everything I needed on my journey, and I had managed to do it without the support of my spell book. There are things you learn from Moody you never understand the meaning of, until you use it yourself. I tied the corners of the tablecloth together with my wand and put a stasis charm on the food inside before I showed the entire bulk inside the tiny backpack.

"Do you have everything you need?" I asked Snape. He nodded and pulled a hand through his blonde curls. He expected me to levitate him and seemed to prepare for that, but instead I kneeled in front of him with my back turned to him. Nearly touching his knees. "Hop on."

"You can use a simple levitating charm, miss Tonks there is no need to resort to muggle methods -" he said clearly appalled by the idea of being carried on someones back.

"Do you want to be levitated?"

"I didn't think you meant it when you said you would carry me-"

"Severus, do you want to be levitated?" I felt my patience run out quicker than normal.

There was a long pause. "No" he said finally.

"Then hop on."

He reluctantly put his arms around my neck and I hefted him up on my back. Then I asked him to put a sticking charm on his legs to that I could be free to use my arms when I needed it. As we left the room Snape was insightful enough to put a dilusionment charm on us both.

I could always have levitated Snape, but believe it or not, carrying him on my back was a lot more dignified for both of us. If I was to use a levitation charm he'd have to hang like a rag doll from an invisible thread or lay down on a stretcher. Having to keep his head from hitting walls on top of trying to find our way outside unseen would be very inconvenient. Also, incredibly awkward. Not that carrying him on my back was any less awkward, but at least I could avoid looking at his face, which made it easier to pretend I didn't notice his discomfort.

He truly hated to be dependent on me and he also hated to put the control in my hands. I could easily understand why. His desperate need to keep his honour and dignity always drove him to want to fix his own problems. Never to be dependent of others. Never to trust others. But now he had to put part of his control in my hands and it made him feel inadequate and weak.

And he considered weakness to be one of mans worst crimes (don't ask me how I knew that).

In my own opinion there were several other things about human beings worse than physical weakness. But I supposed Snape had a different take on things than I.

As a true Hufflepuff I loathed cruelty and disloyalty, but a Slytherin like Snape probably shunned anything that could compromise their ambitions. Also, someone like Snape, who had gone through so many years of bullying throughout school and then later joined the deatheaters had probably learned to never show weakness outwardly. I had never been bullied myself, nor had I ever done it to someone else (at least I truly hoped I never had), but I was pretty sure I knew how it worked. The stronger kids preyed on the outsiders, the lonely individuals who didn't fit in, the weaker ones. A show of weakness was therefore considered an invitation to be bullied, or perhaps it was the sole reason why the bullying happened in the first place.

Perhaps this was more prominent among boys than it was girls. After all, our society today raised boys to believe physical strength to be synonymous with success. Strong men fought for their country, protected the women and became the heroes. Movies would seldom or never have a weak man win the girl in the end and they would never be considered the heroes. It all came down to that biological need to compete with other males to win the female. That feral need to earn the spot as the alfa male in order to pass his genes on to the next generation.

In our society it was always the men who were expected to save and protect the women. And even though I was currently the man, Snape did not feel that way. Had our places been reversed he would never have hesitated to act the role as a saviour, but now he felt more like a burden.

I suppose, being brought up a girl gave me different values. Women were not supposed to compete with physical strength. Instead, girls competed in other ways, some of them hardly any better than the men.

Still, this line of though briefly made me wonder how different I would have been if I was a boy. Would my parents have treated me differently? Talked to me differently? Raised me differently? Would I have had the same friends in school or would I have had completely different friends? Would I even be a Hufflepuff? Or did my values that led me to be sorted into Hufflepuff too have something to do with my gender? . . . I wasn't sure.

I snuck carefully down a flight of stairs that led to the servant entrance and came out right behind the stables just like I had hoped. Outside it was raining heavily but I could see no one except a pair of guards on either side if the castle entrance. That was fortunate for us.

Two guards were easier to take down if we ever were to be discovered. Had there been more we'd be in trouble.

Inside the large but low roofed stable, I put Snape down on a bench and picked out a fine brown mare to saddle. I could not thank my father enough for letting me go to riding lessons when I was younger. I had been pretty good at it and even came back to the riding lessons in summer after I had started Hogwarts. My interest had faded away of course, and I quit after I found out I wanted to become an auror and put my focus on that instead. But to my credit, I still found my way around the unfamiliar saddle and reins without trouble. All thanks to my dad.

Snape said nothing, but he studied me intently while I worked. He looked like he wanted to ask me something but didn't want to make a sound in case someone outside the stables heard us. We could speak normally in our rooms because we had been invited to stay there, but here in the stables we were obviously stealing a horse. Getting caught now was not an option, especially since the sentence for stealing a horse in this time period was . . . well, death.

I led the horse out of her stall and stopped her in front of Snape who now looked slightly nauseous. "What is it?" I whispered, worried he might be in pain. Snape only clamped his teeth together before he gestured towards a bunch of horse equipment that lay in a far corner. I understood him perfectly. It was a good idea to have the right type of equipment to take care of a horse when we first had one. I grabbed it all and shoved it, too, in the backpack that Snape now carried.

Snape had already fished out the pair of cloaks he had accioed from somewhere in the castle and handed one of them to me. I put it on before I kneeled in front of him again, so he could climb onto my back. Despite the lack of verbal communication there was a strange understanding between us that I couldn't explain. None of us needed to talk to get our message across and right now it suited both of us perfectly. I knew what I needed to do, and I trusted Snape would remind me if there was something I had forgotten.

Only when I was completely sure we had everything we needed did I lead the horse outside of the stable. "Okay, hold tight" I said well outside before I mounted the horse with Snape still on my back. I could always have levitated him up, but I thought he would prefer to sit behind me rather than in front of me. Also, I wasn't comfortable enough on a horse to ride without my feet in the stirrups which was why Snape would have to sit behind me.

Then I charmed his legs to stick to the saddle and not to me, loosened his iron grip around my neck and placed his arms around my waist instead. Snape had been awkward throughout the whole ordeal, but he did not complain, and he did not insult me. He did however pull out his wand and dilusion us again.

I hadn't thought of the horse but when Snape dilusioned that too I exclaimed in whispering awe; "brilliant mate!" He didn't answer. Instead he put his arms around my waist again so I decided to ride on. We passed the guards at the gates and they looked around in confusion at the sound of hooves. None of us had though of silencing the horse but the heavy rain cloaked the sound somewhat and we passed them easily.

I decided not to ride back to Watercrest in case they sent soldiers there to look for us. I knew that even though Lord Mordon himself didn't remember us, the soldiers were completely aware of our existence and so, when they discovered that all their food and a horse had been stolen, they would immediately put the blame on us. Instead I headed north to a town an hours ride away. This town was also within Lord Mordons district but I thought it would be better if we blended within a larger group of people. We could also have hidden in the woods but it would be easier to hide the horse among other horses. At least that was what I thought in my still shocked and tired state. I found a stable close to the little town-inn and settled the horse there. I dropped Snape on another bench (I loved that they had benches in the stables) and proceeded to strip the horse of her saddle.

Snape was obviously in pain. The numbing charm left people with the same sort of prickling as one gets when their legs fall asleep . . . only ten times worse. He squeezed his eyes shut and unconsciously rubbed his knees before he tried to stand on his own. His legs would not carry his weight just yet and he dumped back on the bench. The sight made me feel guilty. If I had only taken my gut feeling seriously we might have been able to avoid this incident.

"I am sorry about this" I said as I sat down on the bench next to him "I knew there was something wrong about that guy. I even warded my door." As I said this I felt the bile rise in my throat again at the thought of that monster.

Snape took a deep breath. Although he still scowled his tone was uncharacteristically gentle "How could you have known he was a wizard? And how could you have foreseen that it would start raining at that time? Besides, if it had not started raining then you would have been the victim, not I."

"If it hadn't started raining at that time I would have taken him down easily. He was not a good dueller."

"Well then I apologise-"

"No don't start, it was not your fault. You cannot control the weather."

"No, but If I had not closed the door we would not have been in this mess."

I studied his face carefully. Realizing I had never heard him apologize so sincerely about something before. "I have already told you I don't blame you for that. You did the right thing. Besides, we would have come to this castle anyways for supplies. Whether it was in some other disguise or as thieves. We got some useful things. We have a horse and food, and you've got a dress . . ."

"Yes, however that dress is useless. It is too heavy. And too easy to spot should someone come looking for us. Did you not see how extravagant it was?"

"Well" I said, considering the gold trimmings on the sleeves and the hem. "You should have seen the other dresses they had. Compared to those, the one I chose was a rag. But I see what you mean. I should go and steal something from one of the villagers tomorrow."

"We should not be here. This is one of the first places the soldiers will look for us" said Snape darkly.

"I know, but I couldn't think of anywhere else to let the horse stay. Besides they need some time to realise we are gone, and I am too tired to think straight."

He looked like he wanted to argue with me, but he exhaled and nodded. "Fine, let us break in somewhere and get some sleep. But at least change the horses colour in case the soldiers find it here."

"Oh yes, good idea. You are brilliant, did I tell you that?"

Snape only rubbed his legs again.

We broke in through a window of an empty room of the inn on the second floor. I levitated a ladder to the window and climbed in before I removed it again. No need to lead soldiers directly to our window. All I could do was settle Snape on the bed and make him comfortable but the prickling would have to pass on its own. Therefore, I went with the more pressing matters of warding the room door and the window with every protective charm I could think of. Just in case. After all, Moody was still barking 'constant vigilance!' in my head.

I was too tired to keep guard and Snape was not in shape to do so. Therefore I pulled out some blankets from the backpack and lay them out on the floor. I would have to sleep there tonight. I had nothing against sharing a bed with Snape, but I knew he would be uncomfortable with that. He protested when he realised I would be the one to sleep on the floor. I told him to stop being ridiculous and that he could sleep on the floor next time if he absolutely wanted to. He huffed in annoyance, but he was apparently more tired than he had let on, because when he lay his head down, he fell asleep immediately.

I could not fall asleep so easily.

I sat cross legged on the floor and studied Snapes sleeping form for a long time.

I wanted to ask him if he was okay. I certainly wasn't sure if I was myself. What Mordon had been about to do was . . . uncomprehendable. The entire situation was uncomprehendable. But no matter how I thought about it I couldn't shake the thought that . . . if Mordon had gone through with his attack I wouldn't have been the victim. Severus would. I didn't know how much this affected him. I didn't even know if he dared to think about it. Maybe I should never mention it again and spare his feelings?

Or maybe I needed to talk about it myself? I had been the target after all . . . and I had been the one to panic. It was my body, no matter who was in it. It was my body and to think that someone found it okay to exploit it like that . . . I couldn't think of it . . .

Bile rose in my throat again but this time I forced it down and shook the feeling away. No, I needed to be brave. I needed to handle this the way Snape had.

He had handled the situation 100 times better than me. But then again. Perhaps he had been in crisis before? I didn't know.

But I couldn't think more of it. When I lay my head down on the pillow I had conjured on the hard, wooden floor, I finally fell into a fitful sleep full of dark shadows and fear.