Tracking

A/N: Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season! Here is my thanks for Beth, Maria and my long-suffering beta, karelia.

***

Azkaban Prison was a terrible place, even for visitors. Luckily, Snape had very few happy memories in his life, so the Dementors left him alone. A guard led him to one of the visitation cells where he had been told an Auror would be waiting. He loathed the confiscation of his wand. He felt naked without it, but it was the rule.

He walked into the cell, and there stood Gawain Robards, the Head of the Auror Department himself. Bleeding hell! he thought. What could be so fucking dangerous about two old friends having a chat?

Snape was rather inclined to not recognize the wizard's presence, but the Auror said in a calm, sedate voice, "Good Afternoon, Professor Snape."

Snape nodded politely in reply. Robards walked to the other side of the cell and opened the door that allowed the prisoner to enter. Snape's heart was crushed to see his old friend reduced to such a pitiful state. Avery had been second only to Lucius Malfoy in regal good looks. His thick, brown, wavy hair had turned limp and grey. He had a beard that rivaled Dumbledore's, and he was so emaciated, all the muscles, the fit body that had been so strong and powerful was now thin and weak. Yet, his eyes...his brown eyes...remained warm as he greeted his old comrade.

"Severus," he rasped. "Thank you for coming. I am so grateful you came!"

Snape was a bit confused. After all, he had been a spy and had helped put him away for his crimes against humanity. Why would Avery thank me for anything?

As if he could read his mind, Avery shook his head and chuckled, "No, my friend. I have no ill will against you. You chose the higher path, and as hard as it was, you were right. I will pay for my sins, and I am looking forward to sweet oblivion. But before I go and my memories die, I need to confess to you a great injustice I committed so many years ago."

Snape furrowed his brow. He was getting emotional; seeing Avery so humbled, he just wanted out of the cell.

"What are you babbling about?"

Avery licked his parched lips and clawed at the table nervously. "I think it was ten years ago now, the day before the Dark Lord fell, the birthday celebration at my manor for you. You remember, yes? There had been a young girl we had given to you for your present in the dungeon. Her head had been encased in burlap. Do you recall, Severus?" he asked desperately.

Severus' face fell in shame. Of course he knew. Of course he remembered. Every so often, he would wake up in the night in a cold sweat, Hannah's cries ringing in his ears. The faceless, nameless, young woman whose virginity he had taken by force and then had withdrawn from her haunted him. He had claimed he could not find pleasure in a crying virgin. But in fact, he didn't know how long he could remain aroused. He knew he had to keep the pretense. He had given them all a show; however, they had wanted gore and had not received it. He had left the broken, sobbing Miss Abbott, who had instinctively wrapped herself into a ball in her own puddle of fluid as she lay in the dirt of the dungeon floor. There had been Avery's daughter, Idina. She had been after him for a year, ever since she had become of age. She would not fight him or make him look bad. He had already tucked himself back into his trousers, ignoring the blood, and leered at her full breasts and hips once he had reentered the party.

He had made no ceremony as he began to take her as he should have taken the virgin. He had hated himself for hurting a woman whose virtue she had probably been saving for another. Idina had been no virgin, but she had been good, and he, God help him, had found a great deal of gratification in her willing body. She had remained with him the entire night after he returned from the dungeon. The unknown girl had been lying on the floor in a protective hold. His last glance of her was her back, and he had seen how she had been branded by her shoulder blade with a large "V."

He had wanted to cry, but he could not show such an emotion. Instead, he went upstairs, took Idina into his guest room, and fucked her as long as he was able. The next day, the wards had sounded, and the battle commenced at Hogwarts. He learned Idina had perished in the fight, but all he had cared for was the girl. He had figured she must have been an Order member, but who? There were three women in the Order who had been unaccounted for in the end. The only one who fit the description of a very young woman was Hannah Abbot. He grieved over this. Miss Abbot had always been a competent student whom he had never yelled at or terrorized. Although his grief and shame did not leave him, it had lessened when Kingsley Shacklebolt had informed him of the grisly discovery at Malfoy Manor. He took solace in that Hannah had a resting place where she could be remembered and mourned. She could finally rest in peace.

***

Avery began his story. "I was on patrol with Yaxley when we spotted a young girl or woman we figured for an Order member. We disarmed her and searched her clothes. She had one of those Galleons, you know, the one that dark boy, Dean Thomas, told us about when he had been tortured by Malfoy. Those Galleons were a part of what he called 'Dumbledore's Army.'

"We took her to the manor, and she was your present. We had interrogated her, tried to get a name, but she refused to tell us anything, just that she was a 'nobody.'"

Severus spoke up. "And we all know that it's always the people who are higher up in rank who declare they are nobodies," he replied hollowly.

Avery nodded. "Yes. We thought to break her. We branded her flesh with an iron 'V' onto her back, near the shoulder blade. She screamed and cried, but she never did tell us her name. We kept her there for you, and when you had your way with her, and found her not up to snuff, we left her in the dungeons.

"We left her there, naked and beaten to starve in the bowels of my home. Severus, please go to my manor house and find her body. I need for her to be found and buried properly. I am so sorry...that poor girl!" the broken man wept and pleaded more with Snape.

"Silence, Avery," Snape said, relieved it wasn't anything worse. "We found her body in a grave by Lucius' manor house."

"No!" shrieked Avery as he stood up shakily. "She never could have escaped from the dungeons! And Malfoy? What sense would it make to bury a dead girl at Malfoy's? We could have just given her to Nagini! No, I tell you, she remains there at my estate!"

Robards spoke up. "Give us a physical description of the girl," he demanded without emotion.

Avery turned sharply towards Gawain. "She was unremarkable... just a thin, slight girl with brown hair, I think, " he sputtered.

Severus was confused. "Brown hair?" he asked. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, very sure... it had been pulled back into a bun...so hard to tell in the dark... but she was also thin...petite."

Hannah Abbot's hair was straight and blonde. She was also more on the... full-bodied side. Snape nodded. He stood and stumbled towards the cold stonewall and braced himself with one hand and covered his face with the other. He was disgusted with himself. He couldn't recall any feature of the body of the girl in the burlap mask.

Robards spoke. "All right, Avery. We shall search your house and dungeons as a part of our arrangement."

The guards came in as Robards signaled for them to enter. They grabbed Avery's arms. "Thank you, Severus. Thank you."

Snape looked painfully upon the man as he was led out of the cell. He was trembling. Robards turned to face Snape and in a split-second overturned the table in potent rage.

"So what say you, Snape? How is it that you were never called out as a rapist?" he spat.

Snape glared at the wizard. "Don't attempt to force your self-righteousness on me," he snarled. "Why don't you recall your words, your wonderful words of gratitude at how much I had to do and suffer for our glorious cause?"

Robards walked close up to Snape and shook his head. "Suffer? In which way did you suffer?" he raged. "I reckon that poor girl suffered! Don't you have any shred of compassion in you?"

"Of course I have!" Snape roared. "I have lived in hell every day, thinking about Miss Abbott and how I had played a part in her death...not to mention in hurting her viciously beforehand. I just refuse to break down in front of you or anyone else I would rather not. It is a habit, you realize. An unmoving face does not mean a person is unmoved!"

Robards wiped his face with one hand. "We will search the dungeons and let you know of any bodies we find, Snape, but I'll tell you plain. I know how Death Eaters brand flesh. When we found that Abbott girl, her skeleton had been preserved. There was only a skeleton that remained, but that area of the back would have left markings deep into the bone. I tell you God's honest truth, Snape. There were no markings on her back. Her skull had been crushed. Besides, there was still hair left and it was not brown. It was blonde: a type of blonde that never could be mistaken for brown. You'd best prepare yourself for the possibility that this girl might be alive. We can do the search." Robards looked at Snape in revulsion. "Don't upset yourself further."

Snape jerked his head towards the Auror. "Do not presume to handle me!" he bit out savagely. "I fully intend on joining the search to see if any bodies remain there. We may be able to locate the last two missing female Order members."

Robards sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Fine," he acquiesced. "I'll get Savage and let you know the first opportunity we can go."

Snape waited, brooding and grim. When the guard let them out of the cell, he stalked back to retrieve his wand and back to Hogwarts.