I know life is not predictable, but I try to update once or twice a month from now on.

Chapter 3

Recently, the Dark Lord had taken up residence in the rooms of Malfoy Manor. Actually, he now resided in an entire wing of the house and the ballroom, where Narcissa had once held lavish balls for the purebloods, the wizarding elite, had become his throne room, where he literally held court. A circumstance that made this place a very gloomy home for the Malfoy family. You could clearly feel the cold seeping out of every pore in the wall. Somewhat reminiscent of the feeling that the Dementors evoked in you.

No lighted candles in the corridors, just Nagini slithering along the hallways. It was as if all joy and warmth had disappeared from Malfoy Manor. And that was the way it was. Malfoy Manor was no longer the place Severus knew from earlier times. The time when Draco had been a little lad. Back when the dark mark on his arm had been faded. The Dark Lord had disappeared. However, that time had long gone and Severus didn't know when that time would ever happen again, or if he would even be around to see it. As a spy for both sides, he lived a dangerous life. On some days, the danger of being exposed as a double agent was so great that he thought it would be over in the next second.

Moving quickly, Severus walked through the halls of Malfoy Manor. He wanted to get it over and done with. To leave this place, where the cold permeated every room, quickly. And return to Hogwarts. To the place he now called home, even if it wasn't. There was nowhere he could call home. There was no place he could call home. But right now was not the time for such thoughts. Now he had to concentrate on banishing all unimportant thoughts from his mind, well nearly everything what was in his mind. His occlumency shield couldn't fail him. Not now. Not ever. The day they would fail - that was the day he would die, for sure.

Severus took another deep breath before entering the room and reporting to the Dark Lord. He didn't really know why the Dark Lord had called him away from his duties at Hogwarts today, on a normal school day, and summoned him. Still, he had a hunch that it was because of Elphaba. From the moment he had felt the pain in his arm. This green woman, the Wicked Witch, he still didn't know what to say about. At least she wasn't a Metamorphmagus - as he had first assumed. She was simply green. Possibly from birth. Or maybe a spell had gone wrong, a curse had hit her. He had no idea. But he couldn't say that to the Dark Lord.

"Ah Severus - tell me, anything new at Hogwarts?" the Dark Lord greeted him as soon as he stepped into the room.

And there it was, the question that Severus didn't know how to answer. After all, Dumbledore had not told him exactly how much and what he was allowed to share about Elphaba with his other master. Severus hesitated only briefly. Just long enough to annoy the Dark Lord and for him to point his wand at Severus. Although he only felt crucio for a moment, it was long enough to make his knees go weak. But Severus remained standing upright. In any case, he would show no weakness, not to the Dark Lord. Never. Severus could not allow himself any weakness.

"We have a visitor", he gasped finally.

"A visitor?" he urged Severus to continue, lowering his wand.

"A green woman. The Wicked Witch of the West, she calls herself."

The Dark Lord regarded him for a moment.

A green woman. At Hogwarts. Surely that was a trick of Dumbledore's. Or wasn't it? He had never heard of a green woman. Of the Wicked Witch of the West. Who was she? What was she doing here? And above all, was she friend or foe? Perhaps he could win her as an ally? They could be the greatest team. He certainly hoped she wasn't a Mudblood. And if she was - well, Severus would have to deal with her.

"Well, what are Dumbledore's plans? Is he up to something with her?"

"She's his guest at the moment. And he hasn't let me in on anything else. But it was as if he was expecting her," Severus admitted.

"Expecting her?"

Inwardly, Severus scolded himself for being so stupid. He shouldn't have said it. He shouldn't have revealed too much. Actually, he didn't know anything. He had only seen her briefly. Her green skin and wondered how something like that could have happened. Severus had never seen anyone with green skin before. She had piqued his curiosity.

And before he could even form a proper thought, crucio hit him again - albeit more briefly than before.

"He had sent me to escort the guest into the castle - and that was before we actually knew anyone had entered the grounds of Hogwarts. It seemed he was expecting a guest," the second crucio had loosened Severus' tongue somewhat and he admitted more than he normally would have. But a man could only take so much crucio before he too gave up. And yet, Severus would not be broken. Not from crucio. Not by the Dark Lord. Or by anyone else.

"Back to Hogwarts. Find out everything you can about the Green One and then you will report to me, immediately," the Dark Lord ordered.

Severus nodded. He left the ballroom in a hurry. All he wanted to do was leave this dark and unwelcoming place. Return to Hogwarts. Lock himself up in his private laboratory and block out everything around him. When he was brewing a potion in his laboratory, he could forget. All his wrongdoings. His guilt. The love he had lost. Everything.

Severus hurried through the corridors at a quick pace. Not looking around. And yet, suddenly, Severus saw something pale out of the corner of his eye and he turned his head in that direction. For a moment, Severus had thought he had seen Lucius. Lucius, his old and longest friend, who was only a shadow of his former self. Now that his house was taken over by the Dark Lord.

Even the proud peacocks in the garden of Malfoy Manor were drooping their feathers. Nobody liked being in this place. Not even the animals. And not Severus either.

Severus took one last look in the direction where he thought he had seen Lucius and made his way back to Hogwarts. He knew he was far too late for dinner. He was supposed to pick up Elphaba from her quarters for dinner.

Elphaba, she was the reason why he had felt the crucio twice today. Severus didn't want to see her now. Nor anyone else. He would just apparate back to Hogwarts and avoid everyone. Well, someone would pick Elphaba up for dinner. Maybe Minerva.

At the time, Severus had no way of knowing that everything would be different when he returned to Hogwarts. Mainly not that Elphaba was still in her rooms, waiting. For him. For answers. For everything.

Elphaba, meanwhile, hadn't even noticed how much time had passed. She was still sitting in the armchair in front of the fireplace. All her thoughts were still revolving around the image of her mother. And slowly they began to wander. To the wizard. Was this perhaps the place he came from? She knew that he had come to Oz from a distant land. Maybe that place was Hogwarts?

Elphaba wondered if she might find answers in the books here. Answers to all her questions.

When Severus would pick her up for dinner later and accompany her to the Great Hall, Elphaba would ask him where the library was. Perhaps he could also tell her which books were best for her to read. Which would give her the information she desperately needed.

But then again, Elphaba wasn't sure if Severus would really help her.

Earlier, he'd seemed like she was a burden. Like it was a tiresome task to bring her to these quarters.

Yes, she knew her green skin was simply repulsive to many. People had always made fun of her - called her an artichoke, asked if she had eaten too much grass as a child - Elphaba remembered each of these hurtful words all too well. Only a few had accepted her - Glinda, Fiyero - even if not immediately. Well, maybe it was the same here at Hogwarts. Would she really stay at Hogwarts until she had made friends? Or had that been her only chance of friendship back then, the one with Glinda and Fiyero. Would they be the only people who were friends with Elphaba in her life? Would she have no more friends? Never again. And no love either? Once she had had the feeling for a few hours that someone loved her, her Elphaba Thropp, but that was over, too.

Elphaba was pretty sure that she wasn't going to be granted any good things in life - she would always lose everything sooner or later - her mother, a family, a place where she belonged, friendship, love.

She was doomed to loneliness. Forever alone.

Elphaba sighed - these thoughts, they just hurt. She didn't want to think about it. Not of Glinda, who would betray her in the end. And not of Fiyero either - whom she had killed. Well, most likely.

She slowly rose from her armchair.

She didn't want to think about the love she had lost. The pain and grief were simply too great. So was the guilt. Elphaba should have said no when he had insisted on running away with her. If he were still in the castle with the wizard and Glinda, he would still be alive. Then she would not have another death on her hands. Maybe then everything would have been different. She would not have been desperate, on the verge of madness, looking for a spell in that blasted book. She might have noticed whatever had brought her here just in time, and she'd still be in Oz. Where Glinda and Fiyero were happy - and alive, both of them.

Elphaba walked over to the painting of her mother. Her only connection to Oz. Her memory of home. Of a time when everything had been much simpler in her life.

"Oh mother, what is this place? Why am I here?"

Like before, Elphaba received no answer. The painting remained silent.

"That would have been too easy," she mumbled and turned her head away. Elphaba tried to swallow the tears that welled up in her eyes. She didn't want to cry. She didn't want to feel sorry for herself. After all, it was her own fault how everything had turned out. She should have listened to her father and kept well in the background. Then everything would still be the way it used to be. She would still be in Oz, Glinda would still be her friend - Fiyero would still be alive.

The tears burned on her face. And it wasn't because she was allergic to water. That was just a rumor. A lie. Another thing the wizard and Madame Morrible had invented. Had invented about Elphaba. The two of them had made Elphaba what she was today. Who she was. The enemy of Oz.

Elphaba wiped her eyes again with the back of her hand. She should stop feeling sorry for herself. It wasn't befitting of the Wicked Witch of the West. NO! Elphaba would do well to remember who she was. What she was. She was proud, stubborn, she had a voice that had risen above Oz.

And if she was no longer in Oz, she would now raise her voice here. At Hogwarts.

Yes, that was what she was supposed to do. Raise her voice. Make herself be heard. Leave her imprint here in Hogwarts. She was sure that there were Animals here who needed her help, or someone else who needed her, whom she could save.