I am sorry this took over a year. Honestly, I ran out of steam for a while and then life went...a little crazy. I hope everyone is able to stay safe and healthy through all of this.
As for continuing this story...if I do, the style of writing may be different as my writing has changed but I also don't want to leave this story so incomplete.
Thank you for supporting me and the story.
As always, this story is unbetda'd, but I'd love to hear your thoughts after so long. As a belated 20th birthday present, please review. ^^
Also, if you are in the U.S. and able to, VOTE.
Despite it being dinnertime, there are just enough students still milling about on the grounds and through the various hallways that Severus is displeased to note they'll have an audience as they exit. He follows his team down to the clearing by that wretched willow, which he still rather despises thank you very much, but is also surprisingly empty. Within a moment, Tony deactivates the cloaking tech hiding the aircraft that's parked there. Thankfully, the clearing is a bit of a walk from the castle and thus a bit more studentless and discrete than he'd given his friends credit for. He doubts there are that many eyes watching as the quinjet suddenly appears. Then they're all piling in, and Tony and Severus' mother make quick work of a takeoff.
Once they're in the air, Severus goes over to one of the more secluded corners of the quinjet. With a flick of his wand, he transfigures a random trinket that he'd confiscated from a student earlier that day into a curtain to give himself some privacy while he changes. True, he could simply transfigure his robes into his uniform, but he rather likes changing without magic. It's become somewhat therapeutic for him over the years, allowing him to slip into the mindset of Avenger and shed the Professor.
"So, where are we going?" Severus asks from behind his makeshift divider. Even with the extension spell he'd placed after the team had quickly realized that the aircraft, which is usually comfortable at the maximum capacity of seven Avengers, would be positively cramped with their two guests, the space available for him to change in is rather small. With one charm already in place in this technological machine, he does not want to risk what could potentially happen with another extension charm. While he and Stark have done plenty of tests on mixing technology and magic, he still does not want to stretch the limit. Thus, he is a bit slower as he suits up this time, now that he has the time to waste.
"Italy. There's a base in the Apennine Mountains," Steven offers.
"What's the situation then? Why'd you need the Wonderous Wolf Prince, as the media has dubbed me?" Severus asks as he returns the curtain to its original state.
"Yeah, I'm honestly surprised that the person who came up with that ridiculous nickname didn't just go all the way with 'Wolf Wizard' and be done with it, your royal dramaticness," Tony pipes in from his seat in the cockpit. Despite the bigger on the inside charm in place, which Severus thinks is far too Doctor Who for his tastes, the space is wired with speakers and mics, so they're able to hear Tony from the front.
"I swear to whichever goddess is listening, if you change you codename one more goddamn time, Severus Romanov, I will disown you. Half-Blood Prince was bad enough," his mother growls from her co-pilot seat, the threat crisp through the speakers. "Who in the world needs to change it a third time without a tragic sob story to back up such a decision? You couldn't have simply stuck with Frost Wolf and be done with it, could you?"
"To be fair, while it wasn't 'tragic,' finding out my half-blood heritage on my birthmother's end was rather life-changing. I thought you agreed that you liked Wolf-Prince. The wolf representing you and the Prince respecting her, a perfect mix of both," Severus responds.
"I did, and I do. However, if you change it to Wolf Wizard or something equally ridiculous and annoying, I am disowning you."
"The threat is heard loud and clear, Mum," he responds with a smirk. Surely, she knows he would never lower his standards so low.
As they are going to Italy, the flight will barely be an hour overall from the castle, as their quinjet is a bit quicker than most aircraft. The team spends the remaining time preparing weapons and double-checking suits. While he knows their quinjet is faster than most aerial vessels, it still manages to surprise Severus just how little time it will take to arrive.
"So, why am I here? You all know I don't like to be active during the school term. If this is simply hitting a base, why would you need me? Surely, the whole team is not needed to take down a single base?" he inquires casually as he sits beside Yelena, his voice carrying across the space.
"We have reason to believe that Loki's scepter is there," Thor answers solemnly. Despite it being years since Loki was taken back to Asgard, the damned scepter is still at large.
"Your magic is the closest thing we know to the power of the scepter. We thought that you would be the best choice to handle it, should we find it," Bruce adds.
"And with such a high probability that the glowstick of destiny will be there, we are assuming that the number of guards and other such personnel will be increased to match," Severus concludes.
"Precisely. You and Bruce are our best equipped to deal with the scepter," Clinton chirps.
Ah, things are finally making sense to him. Ever since the data dump, the Avengers have been slowly making their way through the remaining Hydra bases, though usually the raids are executed by fewer members. Whole group raids tend to be reserved for high-security bases, magic suspected locations, and the occasional combination of both.
With around thirty or so minutes left until landing, Steve orders everyone to prepare for landing, meaning that it's time for everyone to arm themselves.
"Wolf, I want you on sniper at first. Once the ground has been taken care of, I want you to move in. After Hawkeye, you're our best long-range," Captain orders. "Iron Man, Widow, you're on intel. Get in there and see what you can find. Hawkeye, sniper. Everyone else, we're on the ground. As soon as we've been given the all-clear, we're tearing this place to the ground. Bruce, if there's a need, Hulk would be welcomed. However, intel and scepter-handling are your priorities. Belova, Konstantine, you two are on the ground as well."
With two Widows and two Wolves, it's been agreed that Yelena and Niko will go by their last names, their old ones. With Draco being a Malfoy legally, their old names are more codenames than anything else these days.
Already appropriately armed, his mother purrs from the front, "This should be fun."
"It has been a rather long couple of months since I've been able to stretch my legs," Severus remarks as he moves to stand in front of his display of weapons. Due to his more random and spontaneous participation in missions during school terms, he's made sure to keep a large enough permanent collection of weapons for both close- and long-range capabilities on the quinjet. This ensures that regardless of the role he needs to fulfill, he'll be fully equipped to handle it.
"How is Darcy? Is she settling in at that blasted castle alright?" Niko inquires with a lower tone for privacy, eyeing his cane for any imperfections as he moves to stand beside his brother.
"Yes, how is she?" Yelena adds as she appears on his other side. "We like her. She's not afraid of us, even if she should be. She is Draco's godmother and our lovely in-law, so if we find out that anything has happened to her at that school…" Her tone is casual, but the way she methodically inspects her weapon of choice rather lessens the non-threatening tone of her question.
"Nothing has happened yet. It is Darcy, mind you, and we all know that she is never far from excitement. Although I do believe she will enact her revenge against Alastor soon. Last we spoke of it, she wanted to castrate him, but I think I managed to talk her down to simple itching powder, her favorite ingredient, and perhaps some sparkle. Perhaps she'll even be able to convince the House Elves to assist her." Severus chuckles at this very real possibility, matching their lower volumes.
"Well, I'm glad we don't have any elves in the Tower." Clint audibly shudders. "Imagine the terror she'd reek! I'd sleep even less than I already do!" Despite not being near the trio, he'd apparently turned his hearing aids up high enough eavesdrop.
"Not to mention, the highly questionable slavery factor as well…" Niko mutters with an eye-roll at the dramatics of the archer. While Severus does have a couple of House Elves at a couple of his safe houses, he only has them because they were rescued from abusive situations that refused to be freed. He'd figured that his safe houses were the best solutions for the creatures, being able to maintain a house that was rarely ever occupied and still technically loyal to a family.
"Aye, my Lightning Sister is a fierce prankster. I pity this Alastor who has incurred her wrath," Thor agrees, apparently also hearing the conversation and deciding to join. They may have been a little quieter, but Severus supposes that in such a small space, there is no true privacy without a silencing bubble charm.
"Oi! You have Jarvis watching over you! He'd alert you anytime your room had an intruder. Besides, you take plenty of naps just fine," Tony snaps over the speakers. Case in point. Tony must have improved the sound system so well that he can hear everything from his seat.
"Duh, why do you think I have such problems? We all know Jarvis loves Darcy more than the rest of us and loves her pranks too much to give us any alerts. It's not bad guys coming in and doing something I'm worried about. How else do you think she managed to get into our workshop and put those weirdass dic—" Clint shouts back before being cut off mid-word.
"Ah, ah, ah, nope! We agreed to never speak of it ever again! Not even news channels have evidence. It didn't happen!" Tony cuts in dramatically. Severus finds Bruce to share a look of exasperation with his commiserating companion.
"Only because you scrubbed photos off the internet," Bruce finally adds in a wry tone.
"Ach, my SCIENCE! Bro! You wound me."
Ignoring as his so-called "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" coworkers digress into childish squabbles, Severus rolls his eyes and selects a lovely sniper rifle, strapping it to his back. Then he makes sure to grab a few extra rounds before considering his short-range and close-combat weaponry.
"How is Draco settling in at Xavier's?" he converses as he chooses an array of knives and slips them into various pockets along his form. "He's not a mutant, so color me surprised when you told me of the arrangement."
Next are the handguns. They're not his favorite, more his mother's specialty really, but still a necessity. Four should do just fine. Two for his waist and one on each calf.
"True, he is no mutant, but nor is he a normal student at Hogwarts. He needs the training to protect himself from our world," Yelena replies, picking up a knife to her liking amd stowing it away on her person as he glares with resignation.
"Yelena and I refuse to do it. We have no powers and no magic. We have trained him all we dare. We have no magic and no powers. Draco needs someone who has that but also knows our world, even if only a little. Xavier seemed to be the best option," Niko drawls as he also pockets one of Severus' many weapons, this time a metal string for garroting.
"He is not us. He is no killer, Severus," Yelena breathes barely above a whisper so as to hopefully not let others, especially the hearing-enhanced hear this more private conversation, "and we will not make him one. Unfortunately, that does not mean he is safe. There are those who would wish him harm in order to get to us, and that silly defense class is woefully insufficient, borderline useless to him."
Keeping his voice hushed as well, Severus offers to teach his godson Legilimens and Occlumency. Nothing too advanced as Draco is still comparatively young and much too busy with other training, but enough to build a foundation for the future should he ever need it. Sooner or later, Severus knows the boy will need it but does not want to overwhelm him. After what happened at that damn Quidditch Cup, Severus is sure that "soon" is coming far hastier than he would like.
Finally, he grabs a garrote, his stun batons—which he ensures are switched to lethal, and his signature Wolf Fangs. Similar to the make of his mother's Widow Bites, his Fangs are bracelets that emit levels of nitrogen when contacted by its victims, not unlike the electricity of her Bites. These had been how he'd gotten his first codename Frost Wolf.
Last of all, he double-checks his wand. It's secure against his left forearm in a silver holster that Darcy had gifted him a couple of years ago.
Once everyone is suited up, coms are put on and tested. Then they've arrived. They set down around a mile or so from the building, which is set in the middle of a fuller part of the mountain range. Trees tower over them and fan out around as far as they can see. Thankfully, the quinjet had been set to silent long before the descent, so they seem to have managed an entrance completely under any potential radars.
Severus and Clint are the first up, their sniper rifles locked and loaded. They share a look before going their separate ways. In a pattern that comes from their early SHIELD days, Severus heads South and Clinton heads North.
As soon as his boots hit solid ground, Severus smirks and stretches his neck, bringing his shoulders with the movement to loosen up any tight muscles. He turns his head to share one final look with his mum, brother, and sister-in-law. Stay safe. Come back, their eyes demand. He nods and then he's shifting.
He takes his new form as he runs, his hands and boot-clad feet becoming paws as they beat against the mountain floor. His large nose elongates into a snout as the rest of his face morphs into that of a wolf's. His hair shortens and spreads to cover his body in an obsidian coat as it's pulled and forced into that of his canine form, changing even his weapons and uniform to match. After years of experience, his spine no longer cracks in protest as he asks it to bend into the spine of the true Wolf Prince.
Severus is off, searching for a spot in this forest that will give him ample view of the base without being seen. As he goes, his paws pounding rather excitedly against the soft forest floor and his breaths releasing in silent puffs, he takes out any straggling scouts that he encounters. Without the ability to use any of his human weapons, it's either an impressive paw of claws to the gut or a rather messy clamp of his jaws to their frail little necks. He may be an assassin, but Severus is no sadist. Their deaths are quick despite the ugly mess he leaves in his wake.
Thankfully, it's not many that he encounters before he finds a nice little outlook, though it may be a tad small for even that title. Still, it's slightly elevated and gives him a lovely cover of trees and bushes to disappear in. Once deciding to utilize the spot, he changes back to his human form and sets up with his rifle, eyes sharp as he scans the building through its scope.
"In position," is all he offers into the com unit.
"Yeah, yeah, we got it, mister speedy. Well, so am I," Clint shoots back, his Hawkeye persona beginning to seep through." We can't all be special snowflakes who can just shift whenever we want. Some of us mere normal mortals have to run on our normal human legs." Never mind, Clint the Class Clown is still rather present. Severus holds back a huff of amused laughter.
"You would be surprised to learn that shifting is a bit rare even in the Wizarding World," he can't resist teasing.
"Boys, focus," his mother's voice, dry from years of putting up with their antics, commands through the comms.
"Yes, mum," they both chirp before the line goes silent as they watch.
The base itself is nothing special and wouldn't even be an obvious base if it weren't for the perimeter wall guarding it. It's more of a large house, closer to a mansion really, that matches the architecture of the area. There's even a small spot of clearing around it, giving it more of an air of domesticity. Truly, if not for the rather obvious slew of guards, one might guess it is simply a house of a rich socialite. Through his scope, he scans the grounds for an estimate of numbers and what kind of personnel. Then he trains his eyes on the guards atop the lookout posts on the wall.
"Downwind, ready," he informs.
"Copy that. Upwind ready," Hawkeye confirms. It's been the same since they began working together. Even when not in wolf form, they've found that his sense of smell and hearing become heightened for around an hour or so after shifting, which greatly benefits him during missions.
Then the two of them are taking out the little squidlings on the wall, silently and efficiently working in tandem.
"Damn," Hawkeye crows, "I forgot how much faster things get done when I've got a partner." Okay, so "silently" is not exactly true.
Severus smirks to himself as he lets out another shot that downs a hydra lookout. "It has been a while, hasn't it? Perhaps I've even gotten rusty."
"Pfft, rusty my ass!" the archer grunts.
With the main lookouts eliminated, the rest of the team, who'd been waiting in the tree line, finally emerge to engage the foot soldiers. Iron Man carries the Widow as they fly above the rest of the team on the ground. He drops her at one entrance in Severus' line of sight before heading to a different entrance, shooting agents as he passes over them. The Widow lands in a crouch after disposing of two agents during her descent. Then she's heading inside, out of his sight. With lookouts no longer an issue, Severus turns his attention to picking off the foot soldiers that have engaged the rest of his team.
The good ole Captain of A is throwing his shield across the area, fatally meeting its targets, while he also uses his brute strength to engage opponents head-on. Thankfully, the captain's training with Widow and Hawkeye has paid off, and he's able to use multiple forms of martial arts in addition to the blunt punches the army taught him to flip around the agents. Thor is thrashing his foes with Mjolnir, a delighted smile upon his lips and occasional sparks of lightning exploding with the force of his swings. Yelena and Niko seem to be enjoying themselves as well as they take out hydra agents. The couple works in tandem, preferring their close combat weapons to guns. Yelena's batons light up with each connection to their targets, gracefully moving as though simply an extension of her arms. Niko's signature Malfoy snakehead cane has elongated into a staff and sharpened at both ends with previously hidden blades, glittering with red from the blood of its victims as its spun in combat. Of course, both having been trained in the Red Room as Natalia had, they also utilize their bodies to their fullest extent with death holds and blazing attacks should any agent have the misfortune to slip past their weapons. Looking at the battlefield, Severus notes that they must have decided Hulk would be unnecessary and that he must be back on the jet, observing in case anything goes wrong.
"This is most delightful, my friends! It has been far too long since we have had the opportunity to face foes all together in battle! And to be joined by Lady Belova and Lord Constantine is quite a treat!" Thor trills as he terminates yet another enemy.
"It does feel nice to have the whole gang together. It's almost like Christmas!" Tony chimes in.
"Oh, yes, Christmas. Just minus literally everyone else, but it's a nice metaphor," Clint adds.
"Iron Man, anything yet? Widow?" Steve's voice demands between huffs. "Wolf, move in! Hawkeye, you too!"
"Roger that, Rogers," drawls Severus, a curl tugging at his lips as cackles from his teammates fill the comms.
"Yeah, yeah, real funny. Real clever," Steve sighs.
"I'm not the one laughing, Rogers. It lacked enough finesse to be that amusing," Severus defends.
"So…I'm guessing I was unnecessary, again?" Bruce comments from his spot in the jet.
"Maybe not this time, Doc," Clint argues.
"Great, I get to sit here and look pretty. Wonderful use of my time," Bruce states with a tone drier than the Sahara Desert when no one can back up Clint's claim.
"The prettiest," Tony agrees.
"Are you all always this talkative?" Yelena asks in exasperation.
"I don't remember you being so loud, Severus," Niko adds.
"Different company. Different conversations," Severus explains as he packs up and makes his way towards the scene. "You two are always so quiet when you work. I match the tone. The Avengers are so loud once the initial lookouts have been disposed of, it is useless to pretend my own silence changes anything."
"Children, all of you. At least, Natalia is still a professional," is all Yelena has to say.
"Of course," his mum trills with obvious pride soaking her voice.
It seems that hydra has caught on to the news that the Avengers have been searching bases all over the world, as the only type of agents he can see are lower-tiered soldiers.
"Damnit all, has anyone come to the same conclusion as I?" Severus calls over the line as he strides up to the entrance gate. As he moves through the mess of bodies, both dead and some still barely alive, he's irritated to note that he barely has to lift a finger in attack or defense.
"That no one is home?" his mother replies quickly.
"Not only that, but these little octopi are only the peons. Even the commanding officers aren't that high up. I'm feeling a little insulted," Clint agrees.
"Oh, now that you're an Avenger, normal level threats are too lowly for you, Clinton?" Niko teases, "also, I believe it is octopuses, not octopi."
"Even I will admit that this is less than stimulating, love. Either they knew we were coming, and they moved everyone of true importance, or they knew this place would be a waste," Yelena hazards an estimate.
"They're right, Cappie. This is way too easy for a base to be holding anything of value. I've already scrubbed the computers, and Jarvis has found nothing. If nothing else, this was a fun exercise," Tony reports.
"Same here, anything worth keeping is gone. There's not even account that Loki's scepter was ever even coming here," Natalia adds.
"Damnit all to bloody hell, I came here for nothing," Severus mutters under his breath.
"Language!" come across the comm lines. "And not for nothing, the WSC requested it."
"Yeah, watch it. Cap doesn't like that kind of talk."
"I'm never going to live this down, am I?" Steve sighs with resignation.
"Nope. For a soldier boy, there's no way we'd ever let you live it down," Clint cackles.
"Never," Niko agrees.
By the time the whole base has been searched with absolutely no signs to even suggest the scepter having touched this place, everyone is none too happy that the information they'd received had been fake. Severus is especially displeased. To add salt to this fresh wound, he's rather irritated by how not tired he is. If he hadn't missed being able to stretch his legs in the field so much, he's sure that he would be closer to livid at this outcome. While he is glad another base has been destroyed, he is rather pissed that he'd had to leave Darcy to substitute. While he's sure that she'd do brilliantly sitting in for him, it bothers him that she'd have to do it in the first place. At the very least, thankfully this mission has been rather short, and they all seem to have minimal injuries.
At this rate, he should be back at the castle by morning, giving him just enough time to sleep before his last class of the day. Darcy will be relieved to see how she'll only need to substitute for a couple of classes.
"Would you like to fly all the way back to the castle or would you like to use our floo? It could say you a bit of time," Niko offers.
"That actually sounds rather nice. Not only would it shave some time off the already short trip, I'm also rather sure the castle is not ready to handle another gathering of the team so soon," Severus admits with a smirk.
"Wonderful. Anthony, you heard that, yes?" Yelena purrs.
"Yeah, yeah, drop you off like fish and chips at your haunted mansion," their resident Man in a Can replies.
"Oh, no, not our mansion. Our vacation house in France will do, dear," Yelena corrects, "it's much closer and right on your way back to the States."
"Rightio, well, just give Jarvis the address or whatever, and we'll head over," Tony instructs. Yelena heads up to the cockpit to do just that, leaving Niko and Severus sitting in silence to ponder the mission they'd just completed.
While the mission could technically be considered a success, as there is now one less hydra base in the world, it was a bit of a disappointing failure, as there had been no scepter and far more Avengers than necessary. Thus, contrary to the usual silence of fatigue and a sense of a job well done, the silence in the aircraft tonight is one of irritation. True, they are a little tired from their earlier efforts, but not nearly as tired as usual, and the air of wasted time is in a cloud hanging over all of them. It may not be completely accurate, but Niko's teasing words from earlier ring with some truth. As an Avenger, smaller missions seem like a waste of time to most members of their little band, especially when they'd been led to believe that the threat was much higher.
Thankfully, with the speed at which their quinjet flies, it's not too long before he and the Wonder Couple are dropped off at their vacation home.
Finally, Severus, now officially exhausted, grabs some floo powder and prepares to return to his quarters and his lovely, warm bed. By his estimation, others will have just begun breakfast, so he will be alone in his quarters when he arrives and would technically still have enough time to sleep before the last class of the day. However, he is quite sure he will simply end up sleeping through the day and let Darcy substitute for him anyways, as she had planned to anyways. Powder sifting through his fingers, he recalls the reason for his current level of exhaustion.
The trio had been dropped off without an issue at the location Yelena had given, and then they'd started making their way towards where Severus had assumed was their house. Despite it being the dark of night, as the building came into view, Severus eyed the couple at his sides with suspicion. Instead of a place that could pass as a vacation spot, a nondescript, boring, and somewhat rundown house appeared.
"Alright, what is going on? You two 'being in the area' seemed rather flimsy at best, but I didn't want to care too much at the time. This, however, this is a fucking safe house. What is it that you can tell me now that you couldn't when they were here?" he had demanded.
"The files Natalia spilled," Yelena started, "among them were files on us. Of course, we scrubbed them from the rest of the internet, but as we were doing that, we found files on Department X. It seems that rather than it ending when we destroyed what we knew all those years ago, hydra took over what was left."
"We've been using this new-found information to finally finish them off. So far, what we've found were a couple of bases with only a handful of so-called 'patients' and minimal security. Anyone we've managed to find still alive; we've taken to Xavier. Natalia told us about the base the Avengers planned to hit—oh, don't give us that look, of course, she keeps us up to date on Avengers activity if it seems relevant to us—and we figured we'd simply have them drop us off on the way back, acquiring your help in the process." Niko had finished.
Of course, after learning more about their mission, he'd agreed, and they stocked up on supplies before setting out once again.
And this had led to running. Godforsaken running. Though not common knowledge to any who knew him, he hated running in his human form. Sure, as a wolf, it's rather fun, but as a human, it's absolutely horrid. If humans were meant to run, Severus is a firm believer that they would have four legs. It was one of many reasons as to why he'd enjoyed being an assassin, the lack of running for the vast majority of missions. He'd enjoyed the subterfuge and the sneaking around and the not running, especially before becoming an Avenger by proxy. He'd always known that he was up on the list, even before his mother-one of the best agents that SHIELD has seen, as the highest-ranking "enhanced" individuals in the organization, but with this new membership, he'd hoped the lack of running would continue. Apparently, the title of Earth's Mightiest Hero doesn't protect him from that loathsome activity.
"God fucking damnit, why did you two have to drag me into this too?" he'd growled under his shoulder at his two companions.
"You were the one who'd agreed! We gave you an out, but you'd said you wanted the exercise after your little Avenger playtime! We simply offered more exercise," Niko panted from his right.
"Don't you turn this on me! You knew I wouldn't be able to resist such a mission. You knew this fucking base would be here and that I could never let it to continue to exist," he had accused between gulps of air.
"Of course, we knew. We don't make of habit of letting scum go on living. We just didn't think we'd end up rigging it to blow," Yelena snapped.
"If you weren't planning to blow it up, what in the fucking hell were you planning?"
"Get in, get out! The usual! Perhaps make some noise as we were doing it. We didn't know exactly what kind of base it was. You know we couldn't very well have left it standing," Niko shouted as the trio continued to sprint.
"Yes, yes, I'm all for the idea of making sure they can never do another horrid experiment, but you see, what I'm concerned about is that you decided to set it off while we were still inside!"
"Well, I didn't expect us to get in such a bind! Two of us is a party. Three of us is simply a crowd! Honestly, I don't understand how you and your Avengers do it. It's so loud and annoying," Yelena defended. "What are you even here still? You could've done that apparition thing or turned into the wolf and left us a while ago."
"We're family, damnit. I couldn't very well leave you two!" Though, to be quite honest, he'd wished he'd had at multiple moments during their excursion.
Finding purchase on a pinch of powder, Severus breathes in deeply with exhaustion, bringing himself back to the present. They'd gotten out just fine and then made their way back to their mansion. The mission finished off with him taking them along with side-along apparition once close enough that he wouldn't collapse from the strain of such a task. Annoyingly, after their extra side trip with his fellow ex-Department X family members, he is far too exhausted to teach tomorrow—technically today if you go by time. Honestly, if he thinks about it, this is the reason he'd asked Darcy to substitute for him. While he hadn't known just how long the mission would take, he'd been sure that he'd be too tired to teach for at least a day. He's rather pleased that he'd had the foresight to prepare for things to go haywire.
Yes, pleased that the mission-actually both of them—has been completed, he steps into the fireplace and throws the powder.
"Snape-Lewis quarters, Hogwarts!"
Thank you all again for giving this story a chance and a read. Thank you for your time and reviews. I always look forward to reading them.