45-46

Chapter 45: Real Gods

After the Malfoys, Lord Voldemort didn't think anything else would surprise him about his treacherous Death Eaters, but Severus Snape, as only Snape could do, proved him wrong. When he figured out sometime after the battle (for he was a bit preoccupied during it) that the man had been playing him all along, he was mad with rage. The entire East Wing of Lestrange Manor now had to be put back together, for magic could only do so much. Severus Snape. He knew there had been something off about him after begging for that mudblood's life! If only he had listened to his instincts sooner! Now he was stuck without money and without potions. Bellatrix even assigned herself to be his nursemaid which she promptly got hexed for. He had spent the better part of the day with just Nagini, speaking his thoughts aloud in parseltongue. He was struck once by the bizarre comparison that he was a girl speaking with her cat, and, as there wasn't anyone on hand to curse, laughed to the empty room.

But his laughter turned cold and his thoughts drifted to the night before.

Lord Voldemort couldn't help the shiver of fear that ran up his ophidian spine at the thought of Altair Castell. The memory of the man's death was hazy and unclear to him as he had never made any particular effort to memorize his death, but he knew enough. He had shot Altair Castell in the heart with a jet of emerald green light, the Avada Kedavra, and the man had died. DIED. So then, how in the world had that man come to be there? Polyjuice? Dark Magic? As if Dumbledore would ever consent to such a thing, unless...Unless of course the man was working independently of the old coot! Yes, that made much more sense.

Voldemort stroked lazily along Nagini's back as he lay on his bed. Altair had had his horcruxes and the pain of having his soul ripped from this world was unimaginable! He could feel his own soul calling out, hyperextended to touch its kin, only to have the other pieces disappear forever. Though the physical pain was still with him, present in his shortness of breath and days spent in bed, his mind was ever working. Somehow, someway, Altair Castell had succeeded where he had not. He had defied death. And somehow, this terrified him.

A knock on the door let him know that his servants had arrived with the news for which he thirsted. With a flick of his wrist, the great double-doors of Lestrange Manor opened up, revealing Bellatrix and the ever lovely Fenrir Greyback.

"My lord!" Bellatrix called, falling to the floor. Greyback echoed her movements, but with fewer dramatics.

"My lord."

Voldemort stilled his hands from petting his beloved pet, causing her to crane her neck to rub up against his palm.

"You may rise, my loyal servants."

The two stood in place, averting their eyes from the giant bed in which he was lying as if they knew how self-conscious he was by the fact.

"Bellatrix, you may go first."

"Thank you, my lord!" Bellatrix crooned. "It has been done. Frank Longbottom has been put under the imperius curse! Now when little baby Neville comes to visit his mommy and daddy, Frank will strangle him at the earliest convenient moment!"

"And why, Bellatrix, have you not subdued the mother as well? Surely her mind is as malleable as clay?"

"We tried, my lord! But her innate magic was resisting the curse. It lashed out at us-!"

"CRUCIO!" Voldemort hissed, "I will not tolerate failure! I am beginning to question why I ever aligned myself with the Lestranges if they are as incompetent as the rest of their extended family!" Memories of the Malfoys' betrayal burned his eyes red. "CRUCIO!"

Greyback watched out of the corner of his eyes Bellatrix take the beating for her family. He couldn't help the smug lift of his lips as he watched her writhe under the spells. Oddly, he thought she was enjoying it, just a tiny bit...

"I have always known that Hasan Castell was Harry Potter, ever since I shared the head of that dundering fool, Quirrel! But after listening to the famed prophecy, finally, I am beginning to see how Dumbledore may have helped me after all to identify the real targets! We must eliminate Neville Longbottom at all costs! It shouldn't have been that hard to curse his demented parents! Greyback!"

"Yes, my lord?"

"I want you stationed at St. Mungo's when the Longbottom boy visits his parents for the last time. I have heard he ran out into the forbidden forest after learning of Harry Potter's true identity. Let us hope he is as impulsive and rash as he was before so that we may make short work of him and focus on the real threat!"

"As you wish it, my Lord. The boy will not live past three days, I assure you," Greyback answered with a feral growl.

The doors opened again five minutes later, with Bellatrix and Greyback looking a bit worse for wear. Snatches of conversation were picked up as they walked down the hall. The Carrows were whispering in hushed tones, as were Crabbe and Goyle by the kitchen. Dolohov was leaning towards Gibbon, their eyes wandering once and a while towards the room that housed the Dark Lord.

"...I heard his name was Castell, like the Potter's boy..."

"...funny objects..."

"...risen from the dead..."

"...with Lucius...before Narcissa..."

"...reluctant to take the mark..."

"...disappeared...bank records say..."

"...lovers...should have known...Lucius...traitor..."

"...believe it? Snape, I told you!..."

"...Lucius gay?..."

.oOo.

"You let him obliviate me?" Narcissa asked quietly as they walked towards Lucius' rooms. (Snape had left them to retrieve Hasan from the Hospital Wing and him to Grimmauld Place with the others.)

Her footsteps were soft patterings beside his own. Careful, wary.

"Narcissa..." Lucius pleaded. "I wasn't involved with that. Please, if I knew you remembered I would have let you keep your memories...Believe me," he added as an afterthought, "I would have let you remember."

"Calm down, Lucius," Narcissa said in a soothing voice. Her gentle fingers came to rest on his shoulder. He didn't have the heart to shrug them off. "I only meant that I was surprised. I just didn't think Severus had it in him to stick his wand straight in my face and tinker with my mind."

Lucius sighed. "There's a lot about Severus we still don't know."

They had reached the rooms. Lucius mumbled the password and let them both in. His private rooms weren't as lavish as those in the Manor certainly, but it was undeniably extravagant for any Hogwarts professor. A grand crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, a large table spanned the width of the dining room, and the bathroom had a fancy fountain bath shower. Besides, Malfoy Manor wasn't exactly safe at the moment. After speaking, the two would join Hasan and Draco at Grimmauld Place where most of the Order was stored.

Narcissa sat down on the couch, face impassive, legs crossed. Lucius joined her after retrieving some wine from the kitchen.

"Thank you," Narcissa said, taking a sip.

"You're welcome."

The two sat in silence for a moment, before Lucius spoke.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Narcissa asked. "It's not your fault somebody else l-loves you." Her voice cracked as she lowered her head, brilliant golden hair falling before her face.

"'Cissa..."

He tried to wrap his arms around her, but she slipped out of his embrace.

"No, don't...I just need time to adjust. I feel incredibly...saddened and jealous all at once. Are you even straight? Bi? How can you love me after being with him for so many years? I wonder if Hasan knew. All that time we lived with him. Didn't he think we deserved to know? Hasan, our child?"

"Perhaps he wasn't quite sure how to approach the topic. I still don't know how to approach the topic. I love you, Narcissa. I love you with all my heart, but sometimes I remember things I've forgotten and I'm positive I loved that person too. But I love you both!" he hastened to reassure her. "They're just passing moments. You're forever, if you'll have me."

"Are-Are you just saying that?" Narcissa asked, tears dropping on her cheeks. "What happens when you remember? When you get your memories back? What happens then?"

Lucius took her hands in his and stared deep into her eyes. "We'll figure it out together."

.oOo.

It took a while to convince Madam Pomfrey to release them, but Fred and George eventually wore her down with an extremely sincere display of eyelash batting. In all honesty, she was just too tired to resist. It had been a long night-for everyone. First of course she knew about the Department of Mysteries, but little by little the story came out about the mysterious man who dashed through the veil to his death, and a little later somebody said the name, "Castell." She was a little preoccupied at the time, attending to her colleagues' injuries, but even she knew that Hasan had to be suffering.

When the rest of the Order emerged from the floo, that was when the real chaos began. Poppy had immediately led Neville over to one of the empty beds and sat him down with a flask of Dreamless Sleep potion to see him through the night.

Now, in the morning, when broad daylight struck the curtains with a cruel optimism, Poppy was ready to collapse on her feet.

"Fine, you can leave, but don't go seeking trouble, now! I have had enough to be going on with," she said crankily.

Draco and Luna didn't need to be told twice. Nodding stoically under the matron's piercing eyes, they took their leave before darting down the corridor, least she change her mind. Fred and George remained behind for Neville was beginning to thrash…

"Where's Hasan?" Draco asked as they walked nowhere in particular.

"Severus took him," Luna replied dreamily.

Draco nodded, quiet.

He had never seen Altair Castell before last night. And now he never would again. How must Hasan be feeling, he wondered. After that awful scream last night and now…

They stopped walking.

"In here," Luna said, tugging him by the arm into the room. It took a second for Draco to realize they were in the girls' bathroom, Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom to be sure. But Myrtle wasn't there.

"What are we-?" Draco began, then stopped as Luna pulled from her inner robes, practically unscathed, the prophecy for which they had gone down to the Department of Mysteries. "That's-!"

"Yes."

Luna held the orb out with her open palms as if in supplication, watching the milky white substance morph within the little world.

"To smash or not to smash. That is the question," Luna murmured to herself.

"The hall of prophecy didn't seem to be missing any prophecies so I assume we don't need to-"

SMASH!

"..."

From the tiled floor of the bathroom, where the glass had shattered into perfectly even diamond shapes, arose a pearly white figure of a tall, grand lady. She had long dark curly hair which fell to her waist, and beautiful wide eyes which stared off into the distance. Draco took in her opulent robes which were finely woven in intricate patterns down to the hems and cuffs. Whoever this person was, she was of a high class or of a higher tier of seer. Probably the best there was…

"The one who knows the ways of half its kind reaches a crossroads

Going left the half-kind discovers half-minds.

Returning right, half-love can restore what pain has taken

A half-path forms at midnight on the seventh moon.

Yet immobile, many halves fail to reach a whole.

The one...who knows...reaches a crossroads."

Her voice was not melodious as one would expect, but powerful and grating in a way that made Draco's skin crawl as if his very arm hair had to stand at attention.

"That's it!" Luna cried happily, "The crossroads, it all makes sense!"

Draco was still in a stupor as Luna chatted on enthusiastically. Something was niggling at the back of his mind, like a breath he could not take or an itch he could not find.

"I'm the one who knows the ways of humans and horses and I've been to the crossroads," Luna was saying, "And the seventh moon...yes, yes, July 7th! That was yesterday, the magic number seven!"

"Luna, I don't understand," Draco sighed, "There were too many 'halves' in that prophecy."

"Don't you see, silly? I'm an animagus, so I'm half human and half horse. There's a place in the forbidden forest where-" Then Luna froze and her silver eyes widened. "The crossroads is where Shadow and Halo can meet. It's a forbidden love story, between a thestral and a unicorn, you know. They've tried to meet several times and were thwarted more often than not, that's the 'halves failing to reach the whole' part. But how to use this...how to use this…"

"Use what?"

"The unistral, Draco! Half thestral and half unicorn, the two halves that will cure Neville's parents! It has to use blood I know, but..."

In that moment, something clicked. It was the word blood that did it. From his own robes he produced the shrunken scroll from Slytherin's study and wordlessly returned it to its normal proportions. Luna was watching him curiously, long lashes fluttering over her soft eyes, but she was tired, and the bags beneath her eyes were like dark pits carved in graveyards.

Their eyes pointedly ignored the rolling heads that were chomped on for eternity, and the dementor supernova, instead almost automatically seeking out the portion of the scroll they needed.

"Here, read this," Draco said. "It's missing a picture but I think that's what you want, isn't it?"

Luna hummed, taking the offered scroll, as she read aloud, "This potion can only be brewed by a competent Potions Master. I have found that it reverses the effects of even the most severe cruciatus induced injuries; however, the brewer should be warned that the animal cannot be obtained by forced breeding but only by natural occurrence. Love in other words. Blood added of the animal depicted will produce divine results, because blood cannot be obtained by halves."

"By halves, that's what made me think of this. I know it must have some use to us! Now if only we knew what bloody animal was depicted in this non-existent picture!" Draco growled, kicking the bathroom sink and promptly cradling his foot. "Ow!"

"Draco?" Luna called softly.

"What?" Draco asked, "We come this far and we're defeated by what? Horribly preserved ink-drawings?"

"But Draco...there's something here."

Draco's blood ran cold.

"What do you mean?" he asked, coming over. She pointed. "There's nothing there," he said, but his voice wobbled.

"It's a unistral, Draco. It has the skeletal form of the thestral, but with a horn on its head...you...you really can't see it, can you?"

Draco took a deep breath. He wasn't insane, he wasn't. "How come you can see it and I can't?"

Luna turned her large doe eyes on him. "Perhaps because I have stared Death in the face and did not turn. I suppose the unistral must also be visible only to those who have seen someone die."

This made Draco frown. "What about Al-Altair Castell, Hasan's father."

"What about him?" Luna asked, dreamily, rolling the scroll back up.

"We saw him die. We saw him together, didn't we? The Dark Lord hit him in the back with the killing curse and then he fell through the Veil."

"Did he really?" Luna asked lightly.

"What do you mean, did he really? He did! I saw him!"

"You saw what you wanted to see," Luna said. "And that's why you can't see this unistral. You can't just think you saw something, you had to have seen it."

"Are you saying that Altair's not dead?" Draco asked, indignant for being doubted and hopeful for Hasan all at once.

"Oh no, he's dead. Perfectly dead."

"Then what?"

"But he did not die here, no. He died before we were born."

Draco felt the chill, stronger this time, freeze his blood.

"We saw him though," he protested weakly.

"Perhaps we did," Luna replied. "But then again, we did not see him die."

There was a soft rumbling behind them, coming from the sinks...Draco didn't turn around, he didn't need to. For the voice was familiar and never heard before, with an undercurrent of hissing.

"I did."

Suddenly, Draco and Luna turned towards the voice and stopped. A woman with golden hair stood before them, if one could call resting on a snake's tail 'standing'. Her breasts were covered by her hair, (thank Merlin, thought Draco), and her skin was porcelain white.

"I am Melusine," she said, a soft hissing accompanying every 's'. "Cassandra's prophecy had roused me from my slumber and I knew it was time to take His potion."

Draco's jaw was on the floor. Melusine? That Melusine?

"Whose potion?" Luna wondered politely.

"Altair's, of course. It was in the deal." Melusine smiled, displaying a row of pointy teeth. "Do you like it? This is just one of my three forms, although to be honest I never expected to ever take the form of a snake. I suppose I did get used to it, towards the end." She was seemingly lost in memory before adding. "I can't stay in this form long. Soon I will turn back into a snake and then I'll have but one more chance to try my other form. But I had to speak with you first about Hasan. I haven't much time. They need to return to their rightful owner or else Hasan will be lost to us forever. Already I can feel his psyche breaking...please. Help my darling."

And with that she began to shrink back to her normal giant snake size and slither back into the chamber.

Draco and Luna, still in shock, numbly exited the bathroom, just in time for Myrtle to rise out of the toilet…

.oOo.

Narcissa and Lucius remained in that position for a long time. Narcissa breathing softly as she stroked Lucius' back, and Lucius having a small bout of hiccups. No way was he going to admit he was having small gasps between crying, as if he were drowning, as if, as if he needed to breathe like any other ordinary person. Malfoys hiccupped. They didn't have sobbing spasms.

Finally, it was time to get up. They felt it in their bones, the moment when, despite any desire to stay put, there was no choice but to rise.

"Are you going to be okay?" Narcissa asked softly.

"Yes. Draco needs us. Hasan needs us." Lucius did a silent drying spell on his face, wanting the illusion of dignity even though she knew he had been crying.

Her face was drawn in concern.

"I asked if you were okay. I care about I care about you, Lord Lucius Malfoy. I love you and I want us to be okay. I want you to be able to heal, not sweep this under the rug. That's why..."

He turned to face her. "That's why what?" he echoed, his face blank.

"I-I think we need to go back to Altair's house. I think you need to say your goodbyes, and maybe he left something there for you or for Hasan or for Severus? You know, that man always left clues. Always a clever one...that one. How about it?"

The two were so still that an onlooker would have suspected them to be statues, carved of the same stone. Monolithic. It took forever for him to sort out his thoughts. On one hand, it was a brilliant idea. Altair was a brilliant man after all and the chances that he had left some clues as to what to do with Hasan's memories was pretty high. On the other, more obvious, hand, the idea was a disaster waiting to happen. The Dark Lord was now aware that Altair had been alive the last few years, which consequently meant he had his minions searching for Altair's residence. All Lucius had to do was set foot and France and –BOOM!- he'd be at the Dark Lord's mercy once again. And besides the imminent danger, the emotion taxation...could he really do it? Even if it meant bringing back some memento or final words for Hasan? or for himself?...

"Okay," Lucius whispered.

.oOo.

Lucius envisioned the forest in his mind. The one that hid the secret path from muggles who might accidently stumble across the barmy old man. Even now, the thought fell flat. Who was he kidding? The eccentric enigma had wormed his way into Lucius' heart once more, galvanized by his sudden death. Maybe not in the way that they were once connected, heart-to-heart by soul strung strings, but together enough. Nodding to Narcissa, he grasped her arm to side-along apparate. They were going to France.

The familiar tug behind his navel pulled him through across the la Manche, the feeling altogether unsettling. When the world stopped spinning he glanced up at his wife and pursed his lips. Perhaps this was a bad idea?

Narcissa gave him a firm nod. "Let's go."

They passed a little local tavern called La Lune d'Or which was full of rowdy youth. A fight was going on by the sound of breaking glasses, but this was all background music to Lucius' dread. The two silent figures, tall and bright with regal grace, walked to the edge of the forest. With a deep breath, they took a step forward.

The forest did not shrink back like it had before, a veil of mist and fog. A delusion for muggles which was easily swept away by a wizard's presence. Instead, Lucius could touch his palm to the tree, and feel the bark, and the moistness of the moss.

"What is it?" Narcissa asked, taking a step forward.

"The forest. It's real."

His voice was a stale note in the warm summer air, a dull clang against the bar brawlers. Narcissa stretched out her arm which glowed faintly in the moonlight and touched her fingers to the tree. At first nothing happened, but then, as if the forest recognized her specific touch, the flaps of mushroom growth around the old oak fell flat against the bark. The leaves receded into the trees, the branches into branches, the trees into the ground.

"Eden sank to grief," Narcissa quoted airily, taking her husband's hand and leading him through the now quite visible path.

Small ivy vines lined the road with long white trunks of beech trees like naked bodies running along the sides. The path wasn't any longer than before, nor was it altogether that different from what he remembered, but it seemed that this time, more than the others that the forest was beckoning him in, and that perhaps there was symbolism in Narcissa leading him, even now, down this path. Somehow, deep within his heart of hearts, Lucius knew that Altair keyed Narcissa to the wards because she was his future. She was the one who had to accept his past with Altair and allow him to accept it as well.

The thought did not comfort Lucius in the least. It made him feel transparent and more than a little cared for by a guardian angel named Altair.

Narcissa entered the clearing, where used to reside a grandiose Estate full of rosebushes and fountains, grand windows with sills and lovely grand oak doors with heavy iron knobs.

And Narcissa entered the clearing with Lucius in tow, and stopped. And the two souls stared upon the clearing. And the clearing was there. As if the clearing was never not there. And time stood still...

Lucius' hand slipped from his wife's gentle fingers. His palm slapped against his traveling cloak, against his thigh. Slowly, in the silence, Lucius bent down, as if compelled by some unknowable force, to pay homage to the sight of his former...lover? Eyes closed, he felt his heart drop within him. Tea in summer, eh? The bastard had never intended to stay until the summer. And smiling, Altair had left him, thinking that tea in summer would perhaps be nice. Left him...

Narcissa watched as her husband sunk to his knees and stilled. How was she supposed to feel? Here, at this sacred location? There was no manual for such a circumstance. So she did what she could. She bent beside him, and rubbed his back like she had all afternoon, and whispered little comforts in his ears. Comforts she hoped she too could believe in, because it was too cruel not to. Maybe Altair thought that this was a touching gesture, that perhaps leaving this small clearing for the wildlife was a tribute to some stupid prancing deer-nature-fairy-god, but it just seemed heartless. No trace. Altair fucking entered their lives, fucked with them, and left, as if nothing ever mattered. As if the world had existed without Altair's name or face or soul. Was he ever really here? No record of him, no one even remembered him, and Narcissa certainly wasn't sure that Severus really did eliminate any supposedly valuable memories of him.

Life would have been so much easier without Altair. But then, she reflected, as her husband sat there, it would not have been their lives, would it? The odd mixture of jealousy, from watching her husband mourn another lover, and supreme sadness overtook her. Like a lady befit of the title of Malfoy, she cast Orchideous, plucked the flowers from the tip of her wand, and set them down upon the grass. Then, in true funeral fashion, it began to rain. Was it all just a dream? she asked herself as she stared at the small clearing. But that was an insult wrapped in a question. To suppose it never happened would be a disservice to her husband. Of course it happened.

.oOo.

Severus walked down to the infirmary, grumbling as just moments before the tiny black owl, Raven, had attacked his meticulously arranged hair to drop a cage in his hands. And not just any cage, the tiny bird was carrying with probably all the strength in its little body a bloody fucking snake cage. With a snake in it. There was no note this time, although really how could dead men write notes? Snape scoffed, but took the snake cage anyway. The medium sized serpent leaned against the bars of its confinement to sniff the air closest to the Potions Master. Liking that he smelled of her hatchling, she turned from the puke green (to express her disgust of owl post) to a pretty pink with blue accents on her pale underbelly.

Snape would have rolled his eyes if he didn't understand the gravity of the situation. This was Tina, Altair's pet and most likely Hasan's only inheritance. And now, it was in Snape's own hands. Severus fully untied the cage from Raven's talon, causing the little bird to ruffle its feathers and fly off to the owlrey supposedly. This left Severus with the color changing snake and a tricky situation. How in Salazar's name was he to convince Poppy to let this, this thing, into a room of her sick patients?

Sighing, as he was already at the entrance to Poppy's domain, Severus opened the door. Well, hell with Poppy' nerves. Severus was also tired.

Entering the infirmary, Severus observed without looking too interested, or Merlin forbid concerned, Minerva reclining in one of the hospital beds, vials of pain potions by her bed. He had heard from Lucius that she had been hit by Macnair's cruciatus. At her age, Severus was surprised that she was well enough right now to sit up with a book and not in a magically induced coma. Two beds down, he saw Neville fast asleep, an empty blue vial next to him to indicate some sort of soothing draught. Severus had more precise labels in the glass, but he didn't want to look too concerned here, which would certainly happen if he went over by that damnable brat's bedside and investigated his potions.

Poppy's voice floated to him above a private divider. "Okay now, Mr. C-Castell. You are physically fine to go, however, I must ask you to seek me out if you need anything. Anything, even if just to chat."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey." The divider was pushed aside. "I am sure you are a very capable witch."

The cool voice made Severus stiffen. It was Hasan's voice from a year ago, the dead logical one which held no room for compassion or humor or love. Hasan emerged from behind the divider, eyes widening as he took in Severus' burden.

:My baby,: Tina hissed. :Oh! My poor baby!:

:Tina!: he exclaimed, but then he remembered how horribly betrayed he felt at Altair and his mood was desiccated.

Meanwhile, Severus took in Hasan's changed appearance. Once again, the boy was donning the Castell brown hair, long enough to just brush his chin, giving him an elfin appearance, while his large almond eyes were back to jade. Pale, dull jade that was so far removed from Lily's emerald that Severus forgot that color they were just days before. So this is it, Severus thought to himself as Hasan hissed away at the snake. This is it, this is the boy-who-lived who has lost his parents twice. Numbly, Severus handed the snake cage over to the boy and lead him out. He almost didn't catch the words Poppy was shouting at him.

"Take good care of him, Severus. Some wounds even healers can't heal."

.oOo.

Severus led a despondent Hasan Castell to his office where he intended them to floo to Grimmauld Place. Hasan was a ragdoll for all he acted, except when he hissed out a few lines to Tina and the damnable snake hissed back. Even without Hasan acting like his...usual...weird self, Severus would have been tired anyway. Most people tended to forget that he did a good bulk of the fighting down in the Department of Mysteries, preferring to highlight the efforts of Minerva or Albus instead. Not that they were completely useless, but a little glory for the dungeon bat wouldn't go amiss now and then. Perhaps? No, that was foolish. Slytherins were background creatures. They took care of their own. Like now, as Hasan stared glassy eyed at his fireplace.

With a sigh, Severus began, "Alright Hasan, we'll both be staying at Grimmauld Place for the foreseeable future. Due to the heightened security measures that have taken place there, we will be sharing board with most of the Weasleys, Mr. Longbottom, Augusta, Draco, Lucius, Narcissa, Miss Granger, and some of the Order."

The Order? Oh right, the Order of the Phoenix that Lucius and Narcissa had joined as if Draco and Hasan would never catch on.

"Okay."

"Do you have any questions?"

"No."

"Then let's go."

When Hasan and Severus emerged, soot covered, out of the fireplace, it was already dark and no one was there to greet them. Severus was dusting off himself as Tina coughed when the handle of the front door turned creakily. Slightly tired, it took them a moment to react, drawing out their wands, but it was half-hearted. Anyone from the Order had the address, and Sirius and Remus (as it was their house) could hardly be expected to not use the front door from time to time. Before they could process much else, Lucius stepped in beside Narcissa, both dripping wet and looking pitifully like two drenched doves.

"Severus-" Lucius exclaimed, sounding more surprised than was strictly appropriate for a man who knew all.

"Lucius, Narcissa." Snape nodded. He took in their sopping wet clothes, knowing full well that they could have performed a drying spell, or even a proactive water repellant charm, but didn't.

"Is that-?" Lucius asked, gesturing to the snake.

Snape nodded.

Then, as if rousing herself from her daze, Narcissa came forward and wrapped Hasan up in her arms. No matter how Hasan looked, as a Potter or a Castell, he was still her child, the brother to her son.

"Oh Hasan, I am so so sorry...I love you..."

Her arms enveloped the boy, but he was stone still, just taking it unwaveringly. Lucius was dead on his feet, and Severus wasn't far behind.

"Okay, let's get you up to bed," Severus told him. "You will be sharing a bedroom with Draco." The boy nodded as Severus led him up the stairs. Dreamlike, that's how the day had been, dreamlike.

Lucius and Narcissa followed the two up the creaky steps, Lucius unable to bear even glancing through to the room with the family tree. Knowing what he'd find there, who he would see. And they followed like that, a funeral procession as the rain fell down upon the house.

.oOo.

Tina wrinkled her little serpent nose at the old house smell of Grimmauld Place. Altair had never brought her here...actually, Altair hadn't really brought her anywhere, but that was beside the point.

:Hasan...Hasan...: Tina hissed softly.

The jade-eyed boy set her gently down on his bed (freed from her cage which was on the floor). The other bed held a snoring Draco Malfoy and somewhere down the hall, he hoped that Luna was sleeping peacefully as well.

:I...: his voice broke.

:He loved you, you know. Altair...no, really, he did.:

:How can you say that?: Hasan started stripping, unclasping his robes, undoing the buttons, unlacing his shoes. :He left me, us. He took those damned horcruxes and left.: The fire was out of him. He was done, extinguished, undone.

:No, he didn't leave you entirely alone without help. He left instructions for the memories, didn't he? And the horcruxes he hunted just for you. And...he tried to, you know...:

:Tried what?: Hasan demanded.

:That day, in the summer, remember? It was a while ago, but you woke up with a headache, remember? It was from Altair, and it was when you asked me that following morning if I had seen anything during the night, and of course it was just passed midnight, so what could I say?: The words flowed freely from her mouth now as the memories came back, clearer, surging forth like a great wave.

:What did he do?: Hasan cried, coming face to face with his childhood friend. :WHAT?:

:He tried to destroy the horcrux inside of you. He saw the red flakes in your aura and realized they were from the Dark Lord. He tried, Hasan, he really did. But he couldn't save you. Only you can rid the world of Voldemort. That's why he couldn't succeed, but he tried.:

Hasan buried his head in his hands, fiercely ignoring the fact that the wet hotness on his face was his tears that came from his eyes, that deep down he didn't want to hate Altair, his father. His dad. That...person who loved him more than the world could know or hope to know. Even with the knowledge that Voldemort's soul shard was engirthed by his soul, a sneaking suspicion that had haunted his subconscious since the very first manipulated nightmares, his heart felt lighter than it had in ages.

Perhaps he did care. Hasan thought as he drifted off to sleep. And Tina wrapped around him and licked his cheek, mourning silently for her hatchling who had lost his father.

Chapter 46: No Masters or Kings

The next morning was accompanied by the loveliest smell of blueberry and lemon scones wafting throughout the house from the kitchen. Let it never be said that Narcissa Malfoy didn't know how to cook.

With a twirl of her apron, the Malfoy Lady had plates heaped high of the breakfast goodies along with a piping hot kettle of water for tea. Lucius, naturally, was still asleep.

Little by little, the wonderful smell of fresh baked goods lured the sleepy house into action. Even if scones weren't the favoured food, the smell was undeniably tempting. Soon, Draco, sleepy eyed and stumbling, had come down the stairs in his navy blue robes, followed by Severus, Luna, and the Weasley twins.

"These smell absolutely amazing, Narcissa. Thank you," Severus said pointedly as the Weasleys helped themselves.

"Really-"

"-Great!"

Fred and George chorused, grabbing plates and brazenly filling them.

Draco rolled his eyes. Typical Weasleys, even if they were the cool ones.

"Draco?" Luna whispered, her nonchalant question belied by her ruthless elbowing of his side.

"What?" Draco asked.

"The potion," she said, drawing out the word.

Severus quirked an eyebrow. "Miss Lovegood, Draco? Is there something you forgot to mention?"

Narcissa was staring at her son now out of the corner of her eye. She trusted Draco to do the right thing-that wasn't the issue here- she was just curious. Did Draco want to pursue potions like his godfather after all?

"Uncle Sev, you remember the Chamber of Secrets, don't you?" Draco began tentatively. "Well, after Madam Pomfrey released us-"

"After we convinced her to free you, you mean!" Fred and George piped up.

"-Luna and I thought of a way to reverse the effects of severe cruciatus."

"And pray tell, how did you do that?" Severus asked, exchanging a concerned glance over their heads with Narcissa, wondering if he should be concerned about where this story would take them.

"Well you see, professor," Luna said gallantly, "Hasan and Draco had gone down to the Chamber of Secrets before and had discovered this really pretty scroll. It had been part of Salazar's private study in fact-"

Severus' jaw was hanging open. "There's more in the Chamber of Secrets?"

"A whole library!" Luna grinned, "Hasan's been keeping his shape-shifting pet there all year!"

"Anyway," Draco cut in, trying to return to the conversation to its former purpose. "We were wondering if you'd consider the merit of adding Unistral blood to the potion Hasan and I developed for the potions project. We tried to make a similar cruciatus nullifying potion, but as you've already found the potency of it isn't quite enough or up to par with anything...you might have used."

The twins watched anxiously as the feared Potions Master thought this over. They might not have had any hand in this solution, but they felt proud of their friends all the same.

"Unistral?" Severus finally asked lightly. "Am I to take it that a hybrid of a unicorn and a thestral has been created?"

"Yes, sir!" Luna beamed.

Severus opened his mouth to speak, then shut it. Thestral blood was a relatively new material Potions Masters were beginning to discover due to the long held belief that thestrals were saturated in dark magic and the consequent taboo of being associated with the dead. Unicorn blood on the other hand was already intensively studied as unicorns were somehow purer despite the hellish curse that befell one that reaped a unicorn's blood without consent. But a unistral? Surely it couldn't have been the first time in the wizarding world that magical creatures have mated. (Centaurs anyone?) And maybe in Salazar's time, when 'dark magic' wasn't called such by the infant Ministry of Magic, the properties of thestrals were more closely observed. The knowledge even possibly preserved beneath the very school Severus called his home, beneath Hogwarts!

Severus cleared his throat.

"I believe the idea has merit," Severus said slowly in his professorial tone though inside he was giddy at the possibility. "But I would have to look at the original document first before conducting any experiments."

"There's a lab downstairs," Remus supplied helpfully from the doorway. Beside him was Neville, scone in mouth. (How long had they been there? How long had he been lost in thought?)

"I'll help," came a confident voice from the stairwell.

Turning, Severus met the brilliant emerald eyes of Hasan Castell and the messy black hair of James Potter. Snape swallowed down his surprise. To the untrained eye it seemed as if the boy were perfectly alright. No bags beneath the eyes, no red nose...nothing. The change was...eerily unsettling.

"We're running out of time. Today is day two," Hasan said gently, looking pointedly at Neville who was now staring at his feet.

"Day two?" Remus echoed before catching on. How could he forget Sirius' outburst that the St. Mungo's staff could only give Frank and Alice three days?

"We just need to figure out how to obtain the blood, Luna? The rest is on the scroll."

Luna nodded in the affirmative. "I'll be happy to collect the blood!"

"I'll go with you," Remus volunteered. "I don't feel safe letting you go alone and I do know the grounds better than most." The werewolf spared an easy side grin with Severus, but the Potions Master was too busy in his own mind to return any such foolish gestures of friendship.

"How do you know it will even work?" Neville sniffed in the corner. "How dare you even suggest they can be s-saved when the nurse said, she said they c-can't. They're dead. DEAD. And you can't bring the dead back to life..."

Severus pursed his lips, wondering too if the proposal of such a feat was just a tad presumptuous and even callous in light of their present audience, but then Hasan surprised him again. And Severus was so weak from shock he let Narcissa pull up a chair for him to sit in.

"The reason we went to the Department of Mysteries that night was because there was another prophecy..."

Sweet Salazar, Severus thought.

.oOo.

Later that day, the smell of raisin bread greeted the Order members as they filed into the ancient house of Black. The smell, of course, was strategically put there by Mrs. Weasley who could not "stand that god awful smell of that man's potions!" In her defense, the entire house smelled like rotten eggs, except near the kitchen.

Tonks was inclined to cast an air freshening charm in the house, but Snape stopped her with a glare that said more or less "if you had paid any attention at all to your potions textbook which you did no doubt open you would know how dangerous it is to use air freshening charms near the site of the potions brewing."

Which was why the Order enlisted Molly Weasley to bake bread. That and buy lovely lavender scented candles which the Headmaster heavily hinted he would enjoy having as some near future Christmas gifts.

Severus was the last to arrive to the meeting, busy as he was ordering Hasan to clean his cauldrons full of horribly disfigured puss.

"Ah! Severus, just the man we were waiting for!" Albus cried happily. He was dressed in demure dark purple robes which shone green at a certain angle, but was otherwise toning down his eccentricity.

The entire table stared at the Potions Master, eyes wide with curiosity, some with hope that made Snape's skin crawl. How could they place hope in him after hearing a few rumors? Just so that they would feel justified after he failed to yell and curse him for letting down the Order...

"Yes, Albus?" Severus asked archly. He was not going to make this easy for the man. Not after Severus had insisted he keep this quiet and the blasted old coot went ahead and scheduled a full Order meeting to discuss his top secret news.

"We were wondering if you would share your new breakthrough potion with the rest of the Order."

With a long suffering sigh, Severus glanced down the table with an extra dose of disdain, making sure to make each person feel quite inferior before he departed with his news. This was likely the only time he would get to feel somehow compensated for the pain sure to follow. Doubly so if he were to fail.

"With the help of Draco Malfoy, Hasan Castell, and Luna Lovegood, I have made a potential breakthrough in how we treat the cruciatus curse." Snape's lips curled at the end, showing his displeasure in any way he knew how.

"I don't understand," Kingsley confessed in his deep voice, "I thought we already had an extremely effective potion against the effects of cruciatus, developed by yourself."

The table waited with baited breath.

"This potion is unique in that it is for severely damaged individuals suffering from long exposure to the curse and consequently longer effects."

"The Longbottoms," Arthur breathed in wonder.

"Yes, the Longbottoms."

The table erupted into exchanged glances and loud mutterings.

"We have cured the Longbottoms!" Molly exclaimed loudly, bursting into tears.

"We have done it!"

"Oh Neville will be so happy!"

"But there is no guarantee." Augusta stood up at the end of the table, face set sternly into place. She locked eyes with Severus' onyx ones across the table.

"No, there is no guarantee," Severus confirmed. "But after we have fine-tuned the recipe, we can test the potion tomorrow. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain."

"I quite agree, Severus, my boy. I quite agree." Albus beamed at his Order, pleased that they were more accepting of Severus by the day. All it had taken was an extremely unpleasant trip down the Department of Mysteries to get them to see that Severus really was on their side.

Well, at least they knew, better late than never.

.oOo.

Lucius Malfoy took one look at the Quibbler and tossed a look to his wife.

"Did you see the paper this morning?" he queried nonchalantly, not wanting to disturb the fragile peace induced by sleepy Order members taking their afternoon naps.

Narcissa arched an eyebrow. "I did not."

In the kitchen with them (not including the ten extra loaves of raisin bread) were Remus and Sirius, eating said bread with their tea. Severus was experimenting with the finicky miracle potion with Hasan and Draco as his extra hands. Luna was also down in the potions lab, but she was reading a book and only answered random horse questions posed by Severus every so often.

"What it is?" Narcissa asked.

"Here." Lucius slid the no-longer-a-rag-now-that-the-Malfoys-owned-part-of-it magazine across the table, preparing himself for his wife's reaction.

Narcissa grasped the edge and gasped. On the cover was an image of Fudge in a hospital bed and the image beside that was of a large, toad-faced woman dressed all in pink. While both pictures were wizard and therefore animated, Fudge wasn't exactly very active while the ugly woman was grinning with wide, undignified teeth and gums. Then Narcissa glanced at the headlines:

Exclusive: Minister of Magic Hospitalized

Death Eaters Strike Again!

by Rita Skeeter

Exclusive: Minister of Magic Dolores Umbridge

Girl Power takes on the Ministry

by Rita Skeeter

"Girl Power?" Narcissa scoffed, locking eyes with Lucius. "She's more of a toad than any human being."

Sirius glanced over at his cousin, and wasn't that weird, she was his cousin. "What are you looking at?" he asked coming around the table. "Is that- No! It can't be!"

"Siri?" Lupin wondered. "Oh the Quibbler. I didn't realize it had come out today."

"This can't be happening," Sirius said. "Fudge is in St. Mungo's at this bitch is taking his place."

"I don't understand, who is it?" Lupin asked. "I've never seen her before."

"She's a Dark Lord sympathizer," Lucius answered. "She always hung on Fudge's coattails, sneaky, Slytherin. I remember her applying for Defense Against the Dark Arts not too long ago for Fudge's latest Educational Upheaval scheme. Luckily that did not pan out."

"Only because Fudge values your money more than he wants to bother Dumbledore," Narcissa put in.

"True," Lucius conceded with a small smile.

"She sounds like bad news," Remus commented.

"Just look at her face!" Sirius muttered. "As if you need any more proof, she was the one who insisted on having dementors stationed outside of fucking Hogwarts!"

The adults' voices carried upstairs where Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, and Hermione leant over the banister.

"I for one think it's amazing that a girl could ever become Minister of Magic!

Ginny cried petulantly. "What do the muggles call it? Feminism?"

"And we needed dementors to protect us from the mass murderer anyway," Ron butted in dumbly.

"Ronnie baby, you do know-"

"-that Sirius Black was the-"

"-supposed mass murderer, right?"

"Well, it was needed at the time!" Ron continued. "Besides, we wouldn't even have this situation if Fudge hadn't gotten himself nabbed by Death Eaters. Hasan's escaped them how many times and he's just a little nothing."

"Ron, that's not fair!" Hermione protested.

"Yeah, whatever." Ron rolled his eyes.

"And Ginny, feminism isn't that women are always right, it's about looking at both sides equally in spite of gender."

"Maybe that's what your muggle parents taught you," Ginny said stubbornly, "but then why does the word itself say feminism not equality? See? I can't believe you're not on board with this new Minister. She's got to be awesome. Did you see her article on page six? She's has like a whole wardrobe of pink shoes and a million kittens. How can someone like that be bad for us?"

"Isn't there a second in command who is supposed to take over if the Minister fails?" Hermione tried again.

"Yeah, Kingsley Shacklebolt is usually the one to fill in during times of war," Fred said, "but somehow that isn't what happened."

"And this doesn't seem suspicious to you?" Hermione asked them bluntly.

Ron and Ginny just stared at her. "Why would it? So what, Fudge got hit. We're at war, Hermione. People die all the time. I can't believe you don't agree with the Ministry's decision," Ginny screeched. "I bet it's because of Theodore, isn't it? You want a man to become Minister, is that it?"

"No, that's not what I-"

"Well fine them, take your misogynistic Slytherin ideas and shove them up your slimy ASS!"

Just then, Arthur entered the hallway casting a shadow over his red haired daughter.

"Ginevra Weasley! How dare you insult another person based on house prejudice again! To your room young lady!"

Ron snickered as Ginny huffed.

"And you too, Ronald Weasley. I am ashamed to call you two my children." Arthur watched sternly as they plodded away before turning back to the others. "Carry on," he smiled pleasantly, and continued down the steps.

.oOo.

"I wonder what all that racket is up there," Draco muttered absently as he towel dried one of the twenty ruined cauldrons.

"It's the nargles," Luna said dreamily. "They love the drama, but hate the heat outside."

Severus looked up from his stirring. "The bulk of the experimenting is done for today. I think you three deserve a break."

Draco set down his cleaning rag and smiled. "Let's go see what's up," he said excitedly, for he had heard some stern yelling from the usually mellow Mr. Weasley. If there was anything the Mafloys loved better than money it was knowing that they pummeled the Weasleys in every field.

Luna followed closely behind him, brushing her pretty blonde hair from her face. "Hasan, why don't you join us in a little bit. I sense the professor has something to tell you."

Hasan froze in his movements to pack his potions journals to stare at Severus.

"What about?" he asked warily, though his eyes were bright and curious.

It took Snape a minute to shake off the superimposed image of the dull eyed boy of yesterday.

"You seem to be in an...extraordinarily good mood compared to yesterday," Severus began, evading the question.

Hasan nodded. "Why wouldn't I be?" Lopsided grin- there, Severus thought, that wasn't normal.

"Your father just died." Still that grin. "Committed suicide." Still grinning. "In front of you." Unwavering grin.

"What? Am I to mourn for him for the rest of my life?" Hasan asked perfectly logically. "He loved me, he raised me, tried to take the horcrux from my mind actually, and then died. Pretty spectacular life if you ask me."

"...horcrux?" Severus asked startled.

"Oh yes, Severus, I'm one of the Dark Lord's horcruxes. Ironic, isn't it?" Hasan said with a feral grin. "Pensieve, orphan, savior, and now this!"

"Hasan, calm down," Severus said, trying to infuse authority into his voice but coming off as simply even. His blood was running cold and he didn't like the glint the boy had in his eyes. The boy was cracking, he realized, the boy's mind was cracking. How could it not? The boy was listing reason after reason right in front of him.

"I am perfectly calm," Hasan remarked. "I thought that's what you had a problem with."

Severus walked around the lab table to stand in front of the boy. His hand gripped his wand harshly inside his cloak sleeve. Blood still cold.

"Your mind has been under a tremendous load of stress from day one," Severus told him softly. "You have had to deal with more things than any child should have to deal with. I am truly sorry."

Hasan's eyes flashed red for a second, but it was so brief that it was hard to even recall the moment.

"Is that why you sold out his parents, professor?" came Hasan's melodious voice, but it was tinged with poison velvet, pulled along the tongue in a hiss. Hasan flicked his wrists and the basement door slammed shut and locked. "You begged for her life didn't you?" Hasan continued to speak. "Pretty little muggle whore she was..."

Severus was shaking now, his Dark Mark suddenly flared to life as if the Dark Lord himself had just entered the room. And fuck it all, his wand was upstairs, away from interfering with the temperamental potion. Putting on a brave face, for weakness was death, Severus approached his opponent.

"She wasn't a muggle and she wasn't a whore," Severus stated.

"Still so sensitive are we?" Hasan laughed.

"You have been reduced to possessing bodies?" Severus sneered.

Hasan let out a low chuckle. "This isn't really possession, Severus. Merely...a channel? Made just for me. My soul welcomes me inside his lovely body. Jealous?"

"You disgust me," Snape said, but didn't dare turn away. Another sign of weakness.

"His mind is breaking, Severus. I can feel it just by being close to it. What a coincidence that I can feel Lucius' magical signature inside here as well!"

From outside the room, someone was banging on the door.

"You know, all this boy does is stay silent on everything that bothers him. Inside I can feel his every desire, every hidden secret. You know that he resents this cure almost as much as he wants it? Why does Longbottom get to have parents and I don't, cry, cry, cry! Why can't I have a normal patronus, why a peacock? Oh that's right, my memories are from Lucius bloody Malfoy! The boy really does seem moments from joining Fudge's psyche ward."

Snape lifted an eyebrow. Fudge was in a psyche ward? Somehow, it wasn't surprising.

"Which brings me to my next point. The Ministry has fallen, Severus. Hogwarts isn't far behind..." the words, so glorious to the Severus of the past seemed tainted now coming from Hasan's mouth. "Come back to the fold, Severus. And you can bring your little friends Lucius and Narcissa along too to join the fun. All you have to do is bring the boy to me. Come on," Hasan wrapped his arms around him, eyes scarlet, but somehow terrified. Deep inside, Hasan lurked, unable to save himself. "Or-"

Suddenly, Severus found himself thrust up against the wall, head banging the ancient brick of the Black house, eyes seeing stars. "We end this now."

The boy had his wand poking into the flesh of his neck, eyes terrified, arm shaking. Hasan was fighting back, but was it enough to move the wand the few inches in either direction to avoid hitting some part of Severus?

Severus Snape had accepted death many many times before, but now just didn't seem right. Not now, not when things were happening. Hasan needed him, didn't he? He shivered against the cool wall. He could feel the hold slipping, he could move his wrists now, yes, he was no longer stuck completely to the wall!

"So weak, Severus, so weak. You couldn't save the mudblood and now, you can't save her son, AVADA KEDAVRA!"

But just at that last moment when the door burst open and Snape slid to the ground in shock, the wand had been pointed inward, thrust awkwardly, not like a grand flourish of a war cry, but a boy's fumbling as he clung to life...and death.

Severus lunged forward to prevent Hasan's head from slapping the hard ground. The boy's eyes were open still, fading from scarlet to emerald to dull jade green.

"Severus!"

"Hasan!"

"What is going on down here?"

But Severus ignored them all, placing his ear to Hasan's heart, knowing from the dull throbbing of the dark mark that it was all going to be okay.

"He's alive. He just needs rest," Severus announced to the gathering crowd. He scooped Hasan up bridle style, the people making a path for him to go through, and carried him to his bedroom he shared with Draco.

What the others didn't hear over the crash of the door, but what Severus did for it was a ghostlike wisp against his ear, was an anguished cry of madness from a Dark Lord, "Noooooo!"

"What just happened?" Draco asked, floored.

"Hasan has just fought the Dark Lord and killed a seventh of him," Luna smiled. "I knew the professor could do it!"

To the Weasleys, Luna's words made about as much sense as her father's preferred choice of comic sans in the Quibbler, but to the Malfoys, her words stilled their hearts and gave them hope.

Neville was silent as Snape rushed by him. He was visibly shaking even though he was nowhere near the battle. This was why the Boy-Who-Lived was more than a title. It was a testament to Hasan's ability to survive, and for the first time, Neville felt truly ashamed to have been part of Dumbledore's scheme to take that glory without permission. The feelings of pity were gone from Neville Longbottom's heart, leaving but traces of deep shame and determination to side with Hasan. To side with the side his parents had fought for and would hopefully fight for again.

.oOo.

It was evening when Hasan awoke, Tina licking at the air beside his head. If Severus found their dynamic even slightly odd he didn't show it. He was just happy that Hasan was alive...alive and well, not well, but okay. Hasan was going to be okay.

After the boy had fallen, Severus sent for the headmaster and Poppy to join them. Poppy to stabilize the boy. Albus for obvious reasons.

"Voldemort was able to possess him?" Albus had asked anxiously. "How was he able to get past our warding?"

The two had moved to the library before heavily warding it. A piano laid off to the side and a fire burned low in the fireplace. Severus had a glass of firewhiskey in hand while Albus just sucked on his damnable lemon drops.

"Did you know that Hasan Castell was a horcrux?" Severus asked, turning to face the headmaster fully.

Albus nearly choked on his lemondrop. Nearly.

"Hasan Castell, a horcrux?" Albus gasped, grabbing his chair. He had not thought of that and there was very little that Albus Dumbledore did not think of anymore. It made sense though, didn't it? The night that Voldemort had killed the Potters, some part of Voldemort had to have been pried from the whole...

"Not anymore," Severus replied calmly. "It was earlier today when I was working on the cruciatus cure when Hasan began to show signs of deviating behavior. I had left my wand upstairs since the magical properties would have affected the delicate potion, but I hadn't realized that Hasan still had his. Albus, I did very little. Voldemort had me pinned against the wall at wandpoint before Hasan won the battle against him and turned the weapon on himself."

"My boy," Albus said, eyes twinkling. "I am so proud of both of you."

"Don't Albus, just don't," Snape said bitterly, taking a draught of whiskey. "Without Hasan we would have both died. I'm still not sure how Hasan managed to survive that. Two Avada Kedavras in a lifetime?"

"That's why he's the Boy-Who-Lived," Dumbledore replied softly. "If I may enquire how you did determine it was the Dark Lord's horcrux that died today and not Hasan's soul, how did you find out?"

"The Dark Lord cried at the end, and then the Dark Mark faded," Severus said, pulling back his sleeve to reveal the barely-there tattoo.

Albus barely afforded it a glance. He knew how self-conscious Severus was about what they both probably viewed as the greatest regret of his life and chose to not stare as others would have.

"You heard about Umbridge then?" Albus asked presently.

"Yes, and about Fudge too." Snape's expression darkened. "The Dark Lord is growing bolder. He intends to take Hogwarts next and soon."

"Fudge is sharing a psyche ward with the Longbottoms," Albus said, surprising his companion. "It was published for obvious reasons, but the spell work was very much the same, except that it wasn't just the cruciatus. I fear his eyes have been pecked out and his fingers amputated." Severus winced despite himself. He knew a bottle of skele-grow and flesh-grow would sprout those babies back in order, but he could envision all too clearly how the Dark Lord ordered the eyes to be scooped out with razors, spoons, or claws. Fenrir Greyback was a particular favorite.

"Perhaps this potion will cure him."

"Or perhaps not."

"It seems as though you'd rather I not even try," Severus hedged.

Albus sighed, "It's not that. It's just the current political climate. The spotlight is on Fudge and Umbridge right now. Everybody knows about this. Fudge is out of the ring, so to speak, to cure him would just place a target on his back for the real kill. He is safer where he is now."

Snape nodded, conceding his point albeit reluctantly.

"Very well then. I just ask that you be careful. First the Ministry, then Hogwarts."

"Fudge then Dumbledore, you mean," Albus smiled ruefully.

"I wish it weren't," Snape said. Oh, if only.

But that was an hour ago. Poppy had left after a few minutes, declaring Hasan fit to function, but looking quite sorrowfully as she was told she was no longer required and that Severus would take care of him. She was needed elsewhere, after all, as the Longbottom guard and approver of all medications. As a trained mediwitch, she knew exactly which potions ingredients the two patients could not have due to Severus' new concoction. The nurses never argued. The Longbottoms were dead anyway, right? What was the point?

"Hasan?" Severus asked softly, sitting in a chair by his bedside. "Can you hear me?"

:Little one, your teacher is calling you,: Tina hissed by his ear.

"'m sore," Hasan murmured, eyes still shut. :Hurts, Tina. Hurts...:

"I have a potion for you, Hasan," Severus said, uncorking one of the many potions he had on hand for pain. "Just sit up and I'll help you swallow it."

Slowly, the boy pulled himself into an upright position and opened his eyes for the first time. They were emerald again, but without the crazed flare in them from before. The hair? Still Altair-brown. His mind is cracking, Voldemort had said, and so it seemed to manifest itself in his phenotype. Snape decided to ignore this for now. One thing at a time.

Snape held the potions vial to his lips and Hasan had just the strength to swallow but he was weak...very weak, and sleepy.

"I won?" Hasan asked after he had swallowed it all.

"Yes, you won," Snape answered. He looked down, embarrassed. "I should have done more to help you, but I admit I was afraid to hurt you, more so than losing my own life."

"You...didn't have...your wand...on...you," Hasan wheezed.

"I can de wandless magic, Hasan. That wasn't the problem. It was my cowardice...I was in shock."

Severus looked at Tina as she began hissing things in earnest, apparently to him.

"She says...you shouldn't be...too hard on yourself," Hasan supplied, then looked away. "Did I...die?" he asked in a child's voice.

"I don't know," Severus said truthfully. "But the Dark Lord's soul did. It left you immediately. I heard it," he shuddered, "But you had a pulse and were breathing immediately after, so no. I don't think you died. Not the traditional way anyway."

Somehow this made Hasan feel better. No dying, you know?

"Thank you," Hasan whispered. "Tired...going to bed."

And without further ado, the boy fell asleep right where he was, head hitting the soft down-feather pillow with a sigh.

.oOo.

Severus tiptoed out of the room, careful to shut the door just so (even though he cast a silencing charm on the handle), before descending the stairs.

"How is he?" Narcissa asked, lying on the couch with her son, Draco, fast asleep with his head on her lap.

"He's coping," Severus answered. Indeed, they were all coping.

"Where are you off to?" she asked, noting his traveling cloak and eyes that were more awake than asleep.

"Hogwarts."

"Why? You know Albus had increased the wards. Shouldn't you wait till morning and let him know you're coming?"

"It's just to my chambers. It'll be fine."

"But-"

"This can't afford to wait."

Severus and Narcissa's eyes met in the darkness. "Be back safely, Severus."

He nodded once, sharply. "I promise."

His chambers were dark and cold when he arrived by floo. The floo was private and even then he had warded the place like nobody's business so that others on his to-kill list were obliterated on the spot. Pity that Voldemort had never needed to floo to Snape's office when he needed him. No, the bastard just had to set his fucking arm on fire whenever he needed something. Needy bugger.

Severus waved his hand to turn on all the candles and lights in the rooms. Slowly, he approached his desk, filled with apprehension. This was what Lucius had said, right? What Altair had sent him so long ago?

He dismantled ward after ward, slowly with his wand, like a glowing web of spun gossamer glass. Finally, the desk drawer was just a desk drawer. He reached for the handle and pulled.

Within the drawer was a single box.

Worn black leather. Silver rim. Just in case things don't go as planned, the top of the box said in Altair's script. Well guess what, Altair, nothing goes as planned. Nothing. Nothing nothing nothing. Fuck you! Severus thought. Hasan's mind was slowing crumbling within itself and all Severus could do was sit back and watch as the boy's hair and eye colour changed, knowing that inside, Lucius' memories were battling for dominance, that Hasan's soul had to adjust to not being constricted by Voldemort's oppressive presence.

Altair better have a damned good backup plan, Severus growled inwardly, taking the box in hand and feeling its weight. Then, as if compelled, he tried to open it, expecting it not to budge as before, and the lid came off. Slid off, easily as butter.

Within the velvet lined box was a single gold key. For Gringott's.