Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Not my characters of course. Just borrowing.

Thanks go to my lovely beta, Charmed_Nay.

Narcissa frowned as Severus walked by her and said nothing in greeting. He'd been treating her indifferently since she'd been forced to stay with him. Crossing her arms about her chest, she squeezed herself tightly as if trying to pry out the foreboding that had settled upon her. The Dark Lord had found an old infirmary in a deserted, wooded area that was being cared for by a single caretaker. The man had been killed of course, and wards had been put in place so that nobody else could enter the area. She'd never had the courage to test it, but she assumed that Disapparating had been disallowed as well.

"Severus?"

He paused and turned back to her. "Yes, Narcissa?"

"What are you brewing?" she asked, hoping to make conversation.

As if he was weighing what he should tell her, he said, "It's Polyjuice Potion. I've something to do that calls for me to take another's form." He glared at her. "Since I completed your bloody Unbreakable Vow, I can no longer walk the streets as myself, now can I?"

"Will you always hold that against me?" She moved closer and debated on putting her hand on his arm.

Sighing, he said, "We're to shelter the others, per our Lord's orders. Perhaps you could make yourself useful and see that everyone will have a place to sleep." He turned back to his cauldron before adding, "And to keep up appearances, I'm afraid you will have to share my quarters with me. See to it that your things are moved in with mine."

She looked over to the corner where he'd been sleeping. From the moment they'd entered the place, he'd claimed the far corner as his own. There was a threadbare curtain that had likely once been used to give patients privacy that Severus used as a wall, making a room for himself. Next to this little corner was his makeshift laboratory and library. She'd spent much time reading through some of his texts, as he did little to entertain her in their long days together, sometimes leaving her alone completely.

"Is Draco coming?" she asked suddenly, realizing that she might be reunited with her son at last.

"Mmm. It seems you're going to be having a family reunion of sorts." He turned back to face her, eyes glinting. "Bellatrix and Rabastan will be coming as well."

"What, Rabastan? I thought he was in Azkaban with Lucius and the others?" She paled. "Have... have they escaped then?" What would Lucius do once he found out that she'd been given over to Severus' custody? What would he say about all that she'd done to ensure Draco's safety?

"He's never been back to Azkaban. He made his escape just before the others were captured." He smirked. "You're not privy to all that goes on, my dear. You simply know what you must. Nothing more." He nodded towards the other side of the large room. "Do what you must to make our little, run-down infirmary more welcoming."

She said nothing as he turned his attention back to stirring his cauldron and decided to do exactly as he'd instructed. It wouldn't pay to get on his bad side, especially not when he seemed to be the only one willing to help her...even if he pretended to be sour about it. She was quite certain that he cared about things more than he let on. Quickly, she moved her few things into his room, placing her clothing with his in the large, transfigured wardrobe.

Glancing at the bed, Narcissa shivered slightly. He wanted them to think he'd been sleeping with her all along. She felt her face heat and her stomach tingle as she thought back to their brief, frantic coupling the night he and Draco had fled from Hogwarts. Deep down she knew it to be something that she wanted to experience again. It had been so long since she'd felt that good. The damage had been done. Whether she'd had sex with him that one time or many times, she'd still betrayed Lucius.

And he would understand that she had to do what she must to survive. She was certain it would be no more than he would do if their situations were reversed. Wanting to be with Severus in that way didn't mean that she did not love her husband, she reasoned. She was simply a lonely woman, who feared for her life and the life of her son. If she had to be Severus' paramour to ensure their safety, she would do so. Besides, the Dark Lord seemed to expect it. Her cheeks flamed as she remembered the words he'd spoken in front of the others, making it known that she wanted something more with Severus, no matter how brief it was.

Setting about to do the remainder of her tasks, she began tidying up the small section she and Severus had been using as a sitting area. He'd circled a few tables, lamps, chairs, and a long couch around the fireplace. It was quite cozy and peaceful when she didn't look around to see the rest of the dismal room. After she rearranged the furniture, plumped the cushions, and placed a large vase on the center table, she called out to Severus.

She watched as he seemed to glide over to her. "What is it?"

"Could you please give me my wand so that I can do things right?" she asked. "I've things to move, such as those small beds you stored away in the backroom, and I would like to add a womanly touch." She pointed to the vase. "Flowers and such."

"Narcissa, you are not a prisoner here. Your wand has always been on the mantle of the fireplace."

"Yes, but..."

"But you thought you couldn't use it?" he queried.

"Well, no, I thought that I was..."

"The Dark Lord knows that you will not disobey him, not when he has Draco under his guidance. He knows that even though you did something he didn't approve of that at least your loyalties do lie with him."

"How do you know I won't flee?" she asked, suddenly indignant that they didn't care enough to worry that she might try to leave. How dare they think she was some meek little follower who wouldn't do as she pleased!

"Will you?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

She shook her head. "Of course not." She smiled then. "Thank you, Severus. I appreciate that you trust me."

In a moment of rare tenderness, he lifted a hand to cup her cheek. "I wish that I could do more for you...for all of you, that is. Lucius included." He dropped his hand and quickly fled back to his corner.

Bringing a hand to touch her cheek, she smiled and felt a weight lift from her shoulders. Severus would help her. Severus wasn't trying to treat her as some prize or some common trollop. He trusted her with a wand and wanted her to know that he cared, though he hadn't said it in so many words. Lucius, I hope you understand all that's happened, she thought as she made her way to the mantle to grasp her wand. It felt good to have the smooth length back in her hand again. She'd been thinking that Severus had placed her wand there as a test to see if she would try to use it.

"I should have simply asked," she whispered happily. Things were definitely looking up.

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"Well, it looks like you were right, Hermione," McGonagall said in astonishment as the evening sunlight hit the wall behind Balfour Blane's statue, showing them a secret corridor. "I can't believe no one has ever noticed this before."

"No one has ever asked," the Grey Lady said before floating towards another female ghost, who immediately began chatting about how dashing some fellow was.

Flitwick grinned, squeaking out, "I suppose we should be glad to witness this at all then."

Ron tugged on Hermione's sleeve. "Let me go first," he said, trying to sound braver than he felt. He didn't much like exploring something that could have traps or some beast hiding within. They'd discussed the possibility, but since there hadn't ever been any rumors of it like there had been of Slytherin's chamber and the beast it held within, they assumed that nothing of the sort lived here...not with history showing how kind the woman was.

Nevertheless, they'd all vowed to have their wands at the ready. When Harry attempted to enter the corridor, Flitwick stopped him and went in first, looking around suspiciously with each step he took.

"I think things will be fine. The Grey Lady would have warned us to be wary otherwise," Hermione replied calmly, obviously more interested in the new corridor than in appreciating his attempt at protecting her.

Saying nothing in reply, he continued the slow walk behind the others, taking in Harry's determined walk, Flitwick's excited gazing, McGonagall's cautious steps, and Hermione's wonderment. He shrugged and thought, Looks like any other corridor if you ask me. However, when the next set of sconces lit up, his breath caught in his throat. "Bloody hell," he said, his words joining the others' murmurs.

They were all now standing at the entrance to what seemed to be a large chamber. Candles began lighting to give them a better view of the room, and it was one of the most beautiful places he'd seen.

"Look at that fountain! It's like we're in an indoor courtyard!" Hermione said, pointing to the center of the room where a large water fountain sat. In the middle of it was a stone tree; water fell from some of its branches into the rocky pond below it.

"See that, do you?" Harry asked, nodding toward the top. "A raven sitting up there." His eyes met Ron's and then Hermione's knowingly.

"Touch nothing," McGonagall ordered, moving off to inspect the bookshelves on one side while Flitwick moved over to a large desk in a far corner.

"I love fountains," Hermione said with a grin. "I always have the insane urge to sit on the edge and dangle my feet in."

"Most people toss money in," Ron added. "What a waste!"

Harry sat on a bench and began perusing the room slowly. "Now, what looks like something that Voldemort would use as a Horcrux? Look around."

"I'll go read some of the carvings in stone around the fountain's walls," Hermione said.

Ron followed her, oddly enjoying the clicking of their heels on the floor, and apprehensively looked at the tree. "Almost looks like another Whomping Willow," he muttered. "Watch it," he added, pulling Hermione back. "You don't know if this thing might have a go at us or not."

"Seems harmless," she said with a shrug. "I'm not going to touch anything anyway. I'm just bending down to read what's engraved here." Her eyes were alight with glee. "Just think! We're in Rowena Ravenclaw's personal chamber! There's no telling what secrets this place holds, and we'll be the first to find them...the first to be here in ages!"

Despite his warning to Hermione, Ron reached out to put his hand under the cool flow of water dripping from a nearby branch. It seemed harmless enough. Something glimmering caught his eye, and he moved around for a closer look and realized it was the raven's eye...a large sapphire!

"Bet that's worth a fortune," he said, taking in the deep blue color of the precious stone. He eased up to stand on the wall of the fountain so that he could get a better look at it. "It's huge. Never seen the likes of something like this before." A look behind him showed Harry talking to Flitwick and pointing to a marble vase. Eager to feel the smooth, shimmering gem under his fingertips, he reached for it, made contact, and screamed in pain, unable to pull his hand away.

It felt as if his fingers were on fire, as if the blood within them was boiling and trying to melt his flesh and bones. Even as he looked, the tips of his fingers were becoming singed, and the stench of burning flesh assaulted his nostrils. The next series of things happened so quickly that he hadn't time to properly understand what was happening. There were a series of jets of light that hit him...purple, blue, red...and then there was darkness and the dulling of his pain.

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Hermione wiped the fresh tears from her eyes and smiled shakily at Harry. "I'm just glad that Professor Flitwick was with us."

Nodding, Harry said, "Me too. I don't like that we've had to tell someone else about what's going on, but it sort of feels good to have another person to turn to. I mean, I wouldn't have known what to do if we'd been alone." He shook his head. "I can't believe he just touched it like that!"

"I know, and he'd just warned me to be careful."

"Professor," Harry said, greeting McGonagall. "How is he?"

"Sleeping soundly," she said in relief.

"He'll be fine," Madam Pomfrey said from behind her, closing the curtains tightly around Ron's bed. "But he'll be needing to sleep for a while until the potions wear off." She placed her wand in her pocket before adding, "It was Severus who tended to the headmaster," her voice caught slightly, "when this happened to him. Luckily, I was there with him and remembered the healing spells he used." After a small pause, she added, "I can't believe you lot are messing about with things that even the late headmaster didn't quite understand!"

"I think we should go and speak to Professor Dumbledore's painting," Hermione blurted quickly as she saw Harry tense at the mention of Snape's name. "We need to tell him what's happened. I have found an enchantment that's supposed to destroy the... er... what we found, but I wanted to go over it with him before we actually try it."

"Very well," Professor McGonagall said, waving away Madam Pomfrey's questions. "I'll ask Filius to join us as well."

"All right," Harry agreed. He reached over to squeeze Hermione's hand. "We can come back to sit with Ron after. There's nothing more we can do right now anyway."

Making their way to the headmistress' quarters quickly, they set about talking to Dumbledore, and he agreed that the spell she'd found was the one that they should use. He finally told them the tale about how his own hand had been damaged. Much like Ron, he'd made a careless mistake when dealing with a Horcrux. Just finding out all of the details, an intrigued Professor Flitwick asked many questions, both to Harry and to the late headmaster, leaving Hermione free to gaze about at the other portraits in the room. Slowly she walked around the room and found herself drawn to the stairs that led down to the lower section...the very place she and Professor McGonagall had talked the day before.

Without realizing it, she stopped in front of the picture she'd spotted on her way out the last time and gazed down at it, feeling her throat constrict. "Professor Snape," she whispered, "how could you have done this to him? To all of us who believed in you?"

The Snape in the picture eyed her curiously, and from his facial expression, he didn't seem to be unfriendly at all...not like the man she'd come to know during her years at Hogwarts. Making a brash decision, she took the framed photo, shrunk it, and slipped it into her pocket. She wasn't exactly stealing it. No, not at all. She would be returning it. She just wanted more time to privately look at it without worrying about Harry or anyone else happening upon her. She doubted the headmistress would even notice.

There just has to be something more than what we know. Even Dumbledore doesn't seem disappointed by the things that have happened, and he maintains we can still trust Snape, she said to herself, trying to desperately find any excuse to explain what had happened and to not think of Snape as the murderer he'd been dubbed.

She and Ron had looked into the Pensieve and had witnessed what had happened that night on the Astronomy Tower, and she couldn't disagree with what Harry had first told them. Snape did truly appear to be every bit the Death Eater when he'd cast that Killing Curse. Frowning, she walked over to look out the window. The evening air was much cooler, but the dark sky was clear, allowing the stars to shine brightly.

Suddenly filled with guilt, she thought about Ron and the words he'd said the night before. She could have easily lost him today, what with the way he'd touched that Horcrux without thinking. At any time, one of them could be killed or harmed irreparably. "I shouldn't have been so mean," she whispered, gazing at the slither of moon she could see.

Ron's hand slid beneath her bra and cupped her breast, squeezing it gently. "Hermione..." he said, a hint of pleading in his voice. "Let's do a bit more tonight."

"I just..." His voice trailed away as he stood and went to the window. "I just want to know all of you." With that, he quickly left her alone to dwell on what happened.

If Ron had died, she would have regretted not being with him for all of her life. Perhaps it was time to take the next step forward with him. She did want to know him thoroughly as well, and it wasn't as though they wouldn't always be together. They'd put aside their problems and had become very close, properly taking the time to fall for each other. Hearing the scraping of chairs from above, she hurried up to see if the others were ready to destroy the Horcrux.

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"Mother, we've been here for over a week now, and it's like you're ignoring what's happened." Draco lowered his voice as much as possible without rousing his aunt's attention. "Snape is a cold bastard. We're here under his watch! Once Father gets out of Azkaban, I think..." He gulped nervously. "I think they will do away with us."

Narcissa smiled at her son affectionately. "No, son, I don't believe it. Severus does care about us all...even your father, and he will..."

"Cares about us so much that he's got you sleeping in his bed!" Draco interrupted.

A resounding slap against his cheek caused Bellatrix to look up from her hand of cards. "What's the little blighter gone and said now? Never satisfied, that one."

"He's just being disrespectful is all," Narcissa replied, cheeks flushed brightly. "Draco," she said softly, "it's not like that at all. He's not asking for... anything else." She widened her eyes in hopes that her son would get her meaning. "If you remember nothing else, remember that you can trust Severus to do what's right for us." She took his hands in hers. "Understand?"

He nodded and pulled a hand away from hers to touch his stinging cheek, gazing at her petulantly. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Shh." She squeezed his hand tightly. "I can understand why you would think it. I know it looks suspicious."

"Mother, I've been thinking things that I shouldn't. I know I can shield my mind with Occlumency well enough. Aunt Bellatrix was a good teacher, but I can't stop wishing..."

"Wishing?"

"That I'd taken Dumbledore up on his offer." He glared over at the others. "We wouldn't be stuck here, living like Weasleys all in one miserable room!"

Narcissa straightened. "No, then we would be stuck living with the Weasleys." Her expression hardened. "You must rid yourself of these thoughts, Draco. The Dark Lord, he's very powerful when it comes to Legilimency. If he thinks you are secretly siding with the Potter boy and his friends, he may kill you."

"I know that," he said, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I'm just confused, I guess. I hate what we've become, yet I want to prove myself as a faithful follower... that I can be as good as Father." He snorted. "Father let students land him in Azkaban! Won't be hard to be better than that, will it?"

"Don't you speak about your father in such a way!" Narcissa said heatedly. Hooking her thumb behind her in the direction of Bellatrix and Rabastan, she added, "Don't you think I hear enough from them about his incompetence? He's a talented man, but not everyone is perfect, Draco. He made a mistake." She eyed him firmly. "Just as you made a mistake. I trust it won't happen again." She stood and gracefully made her way behind the curtains in the far corner of the room where Severus was already lying down.

After she quickly undressed and put on one of her nightgowns, she sat on the edge of the bed and thought about what her son had said. She, too, wished things could be different, and she hoped that she wasn't wrong about putting her faith in Severus. Her family's lives were at stake. A vision of an angry Bellatrix flashed through her mind. She was sure that her sister would always be on her side as well, whether she completely approved of Lucius or not.

"You're shaking. What's wrong?" Severus asked from behind her.

She turned and could just barely make out his face, the lighting from the other side of the room making its way through the thin curtains. "Draco... he's not thinking clearly about things. He's feeling a bit closed in, I suppose. We all are."

"Is there nothing more?"

"I'm tired of Rabastan and all his jibes. Lucius might not have gone about things the right way, but Rabastan seems to forget that he, too, was in Azkaban once before." She lay down beside him. "And Bella, well, she's not helping any. I think she likes putting Lucius, and even Draco, down."

"Things will change once Lucius leaves that place. He'll retake his place in our Lord's ranks, and the time for their taunts will be over," he said quietly, sounding half asleep. "Good night."

Many minutes passed before she had the courage to speak again. "Severus, do you think that just for tonight you could hold me?" He said nothing, but she'd heard his breath catch slightly and knew he wasn't truly asleep. Rejection was never something she took lightly. In fact, it was rare that she didn't get something she wanted. "I'll never ask it of you again." She slid over and awkwardly laid her head upon his chest and slid an arm over his waist.

He finally resumed breathing again and shifted slightly so that she would be more comfortable. It wasn't until she was nearly asleep that she heard him whisper words of comfort. "I know this is hard for you, and your offer is tempting. However, we cannot go any further or cross that line again. I shouldn't... It never should have happened in the first place."

Deciding not to reply or to pressure him, she remained quiet. Besides, he'd said that it was possible that Lucius would be a free man soon. Perhaps she shouldn't try to further things between them. Why am I so confused where Severus is concerned? she wondered.

Long after her breathing slowed and evened out, Severus lay awake and thinking of what the future would hold. He had to get into Grimmauld Place and had found a way to do so. All he had to do was make certain that he could separate Weasley from the others, use one of his hairs in the Polyjuice Potion, and keep them all from being suspicious...during and afterwards. It wouldn't do for them to realize that someone had been there in the boy's place. If his calculations were correct, Granger would be the hardest one to fool.

He'd found a way in through the roof. It seemed that they'd added extra wards around the house and on the windows, but they'd forgotten to place the same ones on the whole top floor of the house. It was safe enough from anyone else, but he was a master at getting in undetected and dismantling wards. He'd been in the house three times and listened in on their conversations. The following evening, they were going to have a few drinks in celebration of "ridding the world of that rubbish." He hadn't been sure what exactly they'd rid the world of, as they'd never said it by name, but he'd had his suspicions, and once he'd seen the Weasley boy's fingers, he knew exactly what the trio had been about.

Severus had no plans on interrupting whatever missions they were doing. He simply had a mission of his own, and the first part of his plan would fall into place the next evening after the little blighters had a few drinks and would be less likely to notice anything out of place.

Southern's Notes: The next chapter is very interesting. It's already in the works. In fact, I know I've been slacking with updates, but with the publication of the next book being announced, I've got renewed desire to finish this story up as quickly as I can. Be looking for regular updates! I hope you are enjoying things so far.