Secrets

Title: Secrets (8/?)

Chapter 8

Hermione lowered her hands slowly from her mouth as silence began expanding strangely in the minute hidden closet she and Ron were lurking in.

'Ron, what are we going to do? Do you think we should tell Harry about this?' Hermione asked, a desperate, pleading tone to her voice.

'I don't know,' Ron whispered slowly, shaking his head in bewilderment. 'I'm not even sure what it was we just heard,' he erupted suddenly. 'I mean, what did she mean? "The Dementors!... Azkaban. Everyone's out"?' Ron almost shrieked. 'What the hell does that mean? Who's everyone? Is it the Dementors on the loose? If it isn't, what about them, then? Is it the criminals on the loose?... I mean, what was that?' he added exasperatedly in the end.

'We can only assume the worst, Ron,' said Hermione quietly. 'The Dementors must have joined you-know-who, as Dumbledore predicted they would, remember? It probably means that everyone else, all the criminals that is, are on the loose. There's no other way of interpreting this.'

Ron stared at her despondently, unable to stop shaking his head.

'I don't believe this!' he breathed. 'And to think I was complaining about the lack of eventfulness of these listening-in-on-Snape sessions! I think this is one of those situations to which the saying "be careful what you wish for..." applies!... I just don't believe this.'

'Well you'd better start believing it really soon, because we've got to figure out what to do,' Hermione said.

'What do you mean "what to do"? Like, whether we're going to tell Harry? Yeah, we're going to tell Harry. How can we not tell him?' Ron said impatiently. 'It's the bloody Dementors joining you-know-who we're talking about here!'

'Yes, but if we tell him, we're also going to have to tell him how we found out about all this, and that means telling him that we've been spying on Snape for the past three weeks... And that we've been lying to him!'

'So what? We're going to have to come clean sooner or later?' said Ron.

'And what are we going to tell him we've found out about Snape then? We can't even decide on that one yet, and the whole point of this exercise was to find out the truth, once and for all so we could set Harry's mind at rest. It wasn't to make the whole situation worse!' said Hermione, looking decidedly conspiratorial.

'You mean we shouldn't tell him?' Ron exclaimed. 'That's absurd! Hermione, get a grip! It's the Dementors we're talking about, and all the prisoners of Azkaban turned loose on the streets!'

'He's going to find out about that anyway,' Hermione tried to explain patiently. 'It'll be all over the Daily Prophet tomorrow morning. There's no question about it. Plus, I subscribe to the stupid paper, so we'll have it by owl first thing in the morning. All I'm saying is we shouldn't be the ones to tell him. Besides, right now, I don't think there's a safer place to be in Britain, than Hogwarts. We can afford to keep quiet for one day!' she concluded pleadingly in the end.

Ron looked at her pensively. He wriggled his nose and ruffled his hair as he thought.

'I guess all the teachers are with Dumbledore right now coming up with ways to protect Hogwarts,' he said reluctantly in the end. 'They would be doing that, wouldn't they?' he added, needing to hear Hermione confirm his idea.

'Of course. That's why Raveneye went down to call Snape in the first place. It's obvious!' she said, earnestly.

'Oh, wonderful! So now we're going to have Snape to protect us! That's exactly what I needed to hear!' Ron groaned and rubbed the ridge of his nose.

'Come on Ron!' Hermione cried. 'Even if you don't trust him, you know it's not going to be just Snape. Everyone will help! Think of McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick... and Raveneye, now I come to think of it. I bet she can come up with some pretty good protection spells, if she puts her mind to it!'

'Yeah, yeah, I know...' Ron agreed with a moan. 'It's just that it's all so bizarre!' he complained.

'You're right, Ron, but we have to be logical here. There's no point in telling Harry anything right now. He's going to find out tomorrow anyway. I mean, the best we'll accomplish by telling him is depriving him of a good night's sleep!'

'I guess you're right,' Ron breathed in the end. 'So we won't tell him... Unless anything even stranger happens in the meanwhile! Ok?!' he added meaningfully, in a manner that implied he wasn't prepared to take no for an answer.

'Ok,' Hermione agreed. 'Now, how are we going to arrange the rest of the shifts?'

'What?' said Ron.

'The shifts, Ron! Listening in on Snape, remember? You do realise that now it's become even more imperative than it was before that we keep on listening, don't you? Whether he's back with you-know-who or not, with that Earspy in his office at least we have a chance of actually finding out, a) what the teachers are going to be doing about this, b) what's going on in the outside world, and c) even maybe what the Ministry is up to,' she said urgently.

Ron stared at her for a moment, and then ruffled his hair again.

'You scare me sometimes, you really do,' he said in the end. 'Have you decided what you're going to do when you graduate, yet? Because I'm predicting an illustrious carrier in the Ministry... maybe even the Department of Mysteries.'

'Oh, my God! Ron!' Hermione gasped, suddenly, before he had even had the chance to finish his sentence properly. 'Your dad! He's going to be in the middle of all this, isn't he? I mean with this sort of emergency, every man the Ministry's got is going to be out there, won't they?'

Ron's eyes widened in horror.

'Yes. They will. I hadn't thought of that,' he breathed. 'I should send my mum an owl and see what's going on.'

'Tomorrow, Ron,' Hermione said in her most placating tone. 'Not today. You're not supposed to know anything about this yet, remember? Besides, I'm sure that even your mum won't know much right now, will she?'

'No... I guess you're right,' Ron agreed hesitantly. 'But tomorrow, first thing, I'm sending an owl, and I don't want to hear anything about it!' he added hotly.

'Tomorrow. First thing!' Hermione agreed. 'Now, about those shifts...'

'Yes, Ok. The bloody shifts...'

*

Snape walked back into the conference room, hesitating only for a moment at the door to glance behind him at Iris's retreating figure. His brow creased, momentarily, and then he turned around and closed the door.

'Take a seat, Severus,' Dumbledore said mildly.

Snape sat down.

'There's a couple of things I want to talk to you about,' Dumbledore began. 'Firstly, and most importantly, did you know anything about this?'

'I had absolutely no idea, Albus,' Snape said. 'I mean, Voldermort's mentioned the Dementors before, of course, but never divulged any part of his plan, at least in my presence. He tends to work on a "need to know only" basis, if you know what I mean.'

Dumbledore nodded.

'Have you got any idea what his real target may be?' he asked.

'I don't know,' said Snape, shaking his head. 'If I had to guess... I'd say it has something to do with the Ministry... But, as I said, that would be no more than a guess. It might be something entirely different.'

'Oh well,' Dumbledore sighed. 'We will have to try alternative methods of deducing Voldermort's plans. Now, we need to agree on what information you are going to give him, in case you are called again -which, I hate to say, seems very likely, under the circumstances. He is sure to want to know what steps I may have taken in the wake of recent events.'

'Undoubtedly,' Snape confirmed. 'And I'm going to have to give him something plausible. He's not easily fooled and he... reacts rather badly to lies,' he added meaningfully in the end.

'For that precise reason, we need to be extremely careful,' Dumbledore said, with what could only have been a hint of concern in his voice. 'So, I want you to tell him exactly what we just planned. Exactly,' he concluded.

'What?' asked Snape in astonishment. 'You want me to tell him the truth?!' The concept was so alien to the reality of his life during the past few months that he was finding it very hard to digest.

'Yes. I want you to tell him the truth,' Dumbledore confirmed. 'Firstly, as you yourself said, the information you give him has to be plausible, and what is there more plausible than the truth? Secondly, I want him to know that I -we -are well prepared. I want him to have to think twice before trying anything. If nothing else, it's going to buy us some time.'

'Albus, I agree with your second point, it will, in all likelihood buy us some time. However, the truth is not always the most plausible version of events. Just because it's the truth, there are no guarantees that he will believe me... I mean, you want me to tell him about Sybil?!' Snape asked in unadulterated disbelief.

Dumbledore didn't quite manage to control a smile that made his moustache twitch amusingly.

'Yes, Severus. After all, asking Sybil to help is something only I would do, isn't it?'

Snape sighed, frowned and shook his head.

'Whatever you say,' he said in the end, obviously not quite convinced. 'And all about the Dementor "alarm", for lack of a better word...?'

'Yes, Severus.'

'Fine,' Snape said, leaning back in his chair, his lips pursed in an effort to abstain from voicing his concerns.

'The only thing I want you to omit is the fact that we're extending the Apparition barrier by a mile. If they do try anything we'll probably be able to get a few of them splinched and out of commission, for a while at least,' Dumbledore said and his lips parted slowly in a faintly sly grin.

Snape's eyebrows rose; the corner of his mouth twitched and then curled up slowly in the usual sneer that served as his smile.

'Superb,' he said approvingly.

'I thought you'd approve,' Dumbledore inclined his head in feigned modesty and another mysterious little smile.

'Now, there's something else I want you to do, Severus,' he added, suddenly serious again. 'I want you to go and get Sirius for me. I've already contacted him, he's expecting you.'

Snape's lips tightened, and the muscles on the edge of his jaw started throbbing as he clenched his teeth. His eyes blazed up darkly.

'Can't he manage the trip on his own?' he snarled forcedly.

'I'm sure that he can. But I want you to go and get him. I want you and an innocuous black dog walking back into Hogwarts. A wizard and his familiar is an inconspicuous image and I don't want anyone knowing that he's here.'

'If I remember correctly, he is perfectly capable of sneaking into Hogwarts undetected, without anyone's help,' Snape said sneeringly.

'Now, Severus, we don't have time for this,' said Dumbledore testily. 'I'm asking you to go get him, that should be enough without me having to explain my reasons. The simple fact is that I don't want him Apparating anywhere within miles of Hogwarts in his human form. I don't want him being seen, by anyone. I have prepared a Portkey which you will carry with you. Is that clear?'

'Yes,' Snape said a bit more demurely. His lips were still tightly pursed. The idea of having Sirius pose as his familiar, of all things, nauseated him to such an extent that it made him furious.

'Good. The Portkey will take you just short of the new Apparition barrier. I didn't have time to prepare something that could by-pass it and bring you both straight into Hogwarts.'

'Fine,' said Snape shortly.

'Now, talking about familiars... There's something else. From now on, I want you to start taking Hades with you, wherever you go. I want everyone to know and be accustomed to the sight of your familiar. That includes any meetings you may have with any Death Eaters, or even Voldermort himself.'

Snape's eyes widened in surprised shock.

'What?' he asked incredulously. 'Whatever for?'

'Severus, have I ever told you that you ask too many questions by far?' said Dumbledore mildly.

'Yes,' replied Snape. 'Now, would you care to explain?'

'No,' said Dumbledore.

Snape stared at him, silently.

'I see...' he said in the end. 'One more thing I'm not supposed to know about, for my own good, is it?'

'Yes.'

'Right, well, I should tell you, that Voldermort is not going to like it if I suddenly show up one day with my familiar. It just isn't done! Of course, he has that blasted snake with him all the time, but that's different.'

'That's why I want you to have Hades with you constantly, so that everyone gets used to the idea. If no one else is surprised by Hades's presence, it is more likely that he too will accept the idea. If you think that it would be more acceptable if you asked his permission to have your familiar with you, you may do that as well. After you have let everyone else see Hades first, of course,' Dumbledore concluded.

Snape regarded him pensively for a few moments, his eyebrows drawn in thought.

'You want me to go out of my way to introduce Hades to people as soon as possible?' he asked in the end, realising that that was the only way Dumbledore's plan had any chance of success.

'Yes,' said Dumbledore simply. 'I want everyone you know to be aware of Hades as your familiar, within a week, if at all possible.'

'I'll see what I can do,' said Snape reluctantly. His life was getting stranger by the minute, and that was saying something, considering what his life had been like up to now.

'Wonderful. One final thing; from now on, you're not going to be meeting anyone without a Portkey with you.'

'I beg your pardon?!' said Snape in disbelieving shock.

'I didn't say anything difficult to comprehend, Severus. From now on you will always be carrying a Portkey with you, one that will bring you back to Hogwarts in case of emergency. Things are getting ugly and I just want us to have some reasonable precautions in place.'

Snape gaped at him.

'Albus, I can Apparate, you know. Besides, isn't it going to be risky carrying a Portkey with me all the time? What if, God forbid, it fell into the wrong hands?' he asked reasonably.

'Firstly, you can't Apparate into Hogwarts and now that we're extending the Apparition barrier, the closest you'll be able to come will still be miles away. Secondly, this is not just a simple Portkey; it comes with a few... modifications of my own,' Dumbledore said with an innocent smile. 'It took me two days to make!' he added meaningfully.

Snape continued gaping at him.

'First of all, it will by-pass the Apparition barrier. Now, for obvious reasons, it will not bring you right into the Grounds -that would indeed be too risky. It will, however, bring you right outside the Main Gate and within the extended Apparition barrier. Secondly, since you're going to be carrying it with you constantly, I have modified it so that it can only be activated if you grasp it in your hand and say -or think very loudly -"Hogwarts". To avoid inadvertent errors, I would advise you to actually say the word, if at all possible. Simply touching it won't do the trick, as is all that's required with most Portkeys. This has the disadvantage of making the whole exercise rather conspicuous, but I could think of no other way of securing it so that you, or anybody else, don't use it by accident. This means that if you are forced to use it in anyone's presence, you will most likely break your cover. But, as I said before, this is a precaution that we are taking for emergency situations, so, in that case, whether you break your cover or not is not going to be important. It also has the ability, as most Portkeys do, to return you to the precise location you just left, but unlike most Portkeys it can by-pass almost any type of Apparition barrier. The keyword here is almost. I can't know what sort of barriers might be in place, so use this feature only in case of extreme emergency and with great care,' Dumbledore paused for a moment, wanting to make sure that Snape was following all this.

Snape sat speechlessly in his chair, staring at him. Dumbledore decided to take that as confirmation that the information he was giving was registering.

'Now, as you know, the Main Gate will also have an assortment of Ward charms placed on it, and, for obvious reasons, again, I am not going to tell you how you can by-pass them. However, I will make sure that you are able to get into the Grounds, just the same. Just... er, do what comes naturally,' Dumbledore concluded mystically. He stopped talking and waited for Snape's reaction.

Five seconds later he was still waiting.

'Erm...' Snape managed in the end and immediately paused to clear his throat. 'What is this Portkey going to be?' he asked.

Dumbledore simply reached into one of the many pockets of his robes, produced the Portkey and set it down on the table in front of Snape. Snape leaned forward and stared at it. His eyebrows twitched, he drew in a long, deep breath and leaned back in his chair.

'That is a very small piece of chalk,' he stated, needlessly.

Dumbledore smiled and shrugged.

'I thought that there is nothing more innocuous than a small piece of writing chalk, left forgotten in a school teacher's pocket.'

His smile became even broader at the series and range of interchanging emotions that started passing, fleetingly over Snape's features, while his expression struggled to settle on any single one of them.

'I see,' said Snape in the end, his face still trying to compose itself into something akin to impassiveness. 'Very well.'

'And here is the Portkey you will be using today,' Dumbledore added unexpectedly, producing a rather large, rubber dog's bone.

Snape's jaw dropped in horror as he stared at the object, wide-eyed.

'It will be activated in precisely...' Dumbledore paused to take out his pocket-watch from within the folds of his robes and glance at it, '... an hour and a half. So you better get going,' he added in the end.

Snape didn't move, but sat there, still staring at the rubber toy in dismay.

'That is the Portkey?' he breathed, distantly.

'Very appropriate, don't you think?' Dumbledore smiled.

'Very...' Snape whispered in disgust. 'Well, better get going then,' he continued, but made no move to rise from his chair, instead carried on staring at the alleged Portkey.

'Unless there's anything else you want to talk about,' Dumbledore suggested.

'Er, no,' Snape said in sudden decisiveness and rose. His face twitched once more in revulsion, and then he finally picked up the bone. 'I think I'd rather get this over and done with.'

'Good idea,' said Dumbledore and rose with him. 'I have a million and one things to take care of too.'

Both of them headed for the door and then out of the conference room and into Dumbledore's office.

'I will see you later, Albus,' Snape said.

'Oh, there was one more thing,' said Dumbledore suddenly as if he had just remembered something. 'Your wand, Severus, it's a Griffon feather one, isn't it, in oak?'

Snape turned back, in bewilderment.

'My wand?' he asked incomprehensibly.

'Yes.'

'Er... yes, Griffon feather and oak,' he said, puzzled and frowning.

'Good, good... I thought so,' said Dumbledore. 'Excellent stuff. I used to know someone else, many years ago, that had a Griffon feather wand. A dear friend, he was...' his voice suddenly took on a misty quality of one reminiscing of happier times. Abruptly he smiled again. 'Oh well, off you go then. And take care, now.'

Snape shot him another bemused look accompanied by an irritable frown and then headed for the door.

'I will see you later, Albus,' he repeated meaningfully, as if he expected the Headmaster to have returned to his senses by the time he got back.

*

Aidan White stormed out of the Apparition room in The Haven and headed straight for Iole Ranger's office. It was the first time he ever remembered seeing so many people coming and going to and from The Haven. The Apparition room looked more like King's Cross station at five o'clock on a Friday afternoon, than a top secret Ministry installation. The same applied for the rest of the Haven, he very quickly discovered, on his way to Iole's office. People were hurrying -in some cases actually running -along the corridors and in and out of offices in every conceivable direction. It took him an inordinate amount of time to reach his destination since he spent most of his way there being forced to dodge people that were too flustered, or too harried to watch where they were going.

By the time he managed to reach Iole's office he was fuming. He didn't bother knocking. Throwing the door open, he strode in. Iole was standing in the middle of the room giving instructions to three people simultaneously. She spun around as the door burst open, her eyes gleaming coldly.

'As you can see, I'm very busy,' she said.

'I need to talk to you!' Aidan growled in barely contained anger.

Iole's eyes narrowed, menacingly, but she turned back to the three people that were still standing there awkwardly, finished giving them their instructions and sent them on their way. Aidan waited, eyes blazing, lips almost white with fury.

The door had barely closed behind him, before he started shouting.

'Why didn't you tell me Raveneye was working on this project?!'

Iole looked at him coldly, then turned and walked to her desk. She sat down behind it, folded her hands in her lap and finally looked up at him again.

'You did not need to know,' she said flatly.

'The hell I didn't need to know!' Aidan shouted, almost beside himself with fury. 'I almost gave myself away today. "Almost" is my interpretation, by the way. It's entirely likely that I did give the game away after all! Two little words; that was all that you had to say: Raveneye - Hogwarts! That's all! I would have been prepared. Not to mention the fact that she could probably have done with a little more preparation on that count! How do you expect us to work when we don't know what the hell is going on?'

'Am I to assume that for some inconceivable reason you were at Hogwarts today?'

'Damn right I was at Hogwarts today!' Aidan was trying very hard not to scream. 'And she ran into me -practically physically! In Snape's office! Have you got any idea what that was like?'

'I dread to think... From your expansive outburst I can only assume that the both of you were less than successful at concealing your acquaintance.'

'What do you think?!' Aidan yelled. 'At least Iris managed to say something! It wasn't the best line I've ever heard, but she said something! I just stood there gaping at her like a goldfish! How likely is it, you think that Snape didn't notice?!' he snarled sarcastically in the end.

'Highly unlikely, I'd say,' Iole considered calmly. 'What were you doing at Hogwarts, anyway?'

'My job!' Aidan screamed. 'Remember that? My job! I'm supposed to be a bleeming Death Eater, remember? I hang out with other Death Eaters. If they happen to be in Hogwarts, then it's likely that I'll end up there, eventually. And judging from the fact that you've got Raveneye cooped up in there with Snape, you obviously already knew about it! So, why didn't you tell me?!'

'Because the less you know, the better. If, God forbid, you ever get exposed, we don't want you being in a position to expose the rest of the people working for us. You're not our only field operative, in case you've forgotten. It is unfortunate, in this case, that you happen to know one of the other operatives working on the same case, but it couldn't be helped,' Iole explained coldly.

'But you were aware of the fact that I knew her. You should have warned me! You should have warned her, too!'

'She had been warned. I presume her surprise came from seeing you in Hogwarts, rather than the fact that it was actually you. To be honest, I'm as surprised as Iris must have been that you were actually able to simply saunter into Hogwarts like that.'

'She knew?!' Aidan breathed in disbelief.

'Yes. Because of the assignment she is on, I thought it necessary to tell her that you were going to be involved. She did not, however, know any more details about your placement. Hence, I assume, the surprise.'

'And what, exactly, is her assignment?' Aidan growled. 'I don't want any more surprises! I already know about her, so you might as well tell me the rest of it. I want to know!'

'I can't tell you I'm afraid. Just because you know she's involved doesn't mean that you should know all the details. Besides, it's not just her that's involved. There are... others.'

'Others?' Aidan asked disbelievingly and stared at Iole while he desperately tried to work out what was going on.

Iole shook her head.

'I can't give you more than that. All I can tell you is that her assignment involves surveillance. So, unless, from now on you make a habit of hanging out at Hogwarts, I doubt you'll be running into her again,' Iole concluded and rose from her chair. 'Now, if that's all, I have a million things to take care of. In case you hadn't noticed, we're in a middle of a level one crisis here! Talking of which, what did you know about this?'

'Know about this?' Aidan cried incredulously. 'Probably less than you did! You think they'd tell me about their master plan to release all the prisoners from Azkaban?! I just joined them! I'm the new boy around there. They're having me running errands for them. The only thing I haven't yet done for them is go and get them cigarettes! I only ever see one or two of them at a time; and I've only seen the "Governor" once -for about three minutes; then he was gone in a puff of smoke and a pop! But, what am I saying? You already know all this, from the reports I send you EVERY SINGLE DAY!'

Iole stared at him coldly.

'Yes, the reports... Well, best get going then, because I want another one on my desk in one hour, giving me, in full detail, what you were doing at Hogwarts and what you discussed with Snape. Oh, yes, and don't forget a detailed description of what happened with Iris.'

'You want me to write a report about this?!' Aidan screamed. 'Now? While the world is coming to an end? Don't you think it would be better if I was out there trying to figure out what is going on?'

'I can't think of a better time. We need all the information we can get, and as you yourself said, it's unlikely that anyone is going to confide anything important in you any time soon. So, all in all, yes, I think you can spare an hour.'

Aidan stared at her, his blue-green eyes suddenly growing darker like the waters of a stormy sea. He was so furious that he had to try very hard to stop himself from shaking. He clenched his teeth and the muscles along the edge of his jaw started throbbing.

'Aidan, I don't have time for this...' Iole said, a note of warning in her voice. Aidan opened his mouth to say something, but didn't get the chance as a puff of purple smoke and a pop coming out of Iole's fireplace interrupted him.

'Ms. Ranger, I've got the Minister coming in to see you. He should be here in about ten minutes,' came the voice of Iole's assistant out of the fire.

'Thank you, Alice,' Iole said and went back to glaring at Aidan. 'I remind you that this conversation ended five minutes ago.'

Aidan's eyes narrowed, and he gritted his teeth, but he knew that it was futile trying to get anything more out of Iole, least of all reason.

'Fine,' he growled, glowered at her one more time and turned for the door.

A knock came from outside just as his hand was reaching for the handle. Without waiting for Iole to respond, and ready to storm past whoever it was on the other side, he pulled the door open. There was a faint yelp of surprise from the corridor, coinciding perfectly with Aidan's gasp, as he jumped and staggered back a step.

He cursed, not very quietly, and clutched his chest, as if to stop his heart from popping out of his ribcage.

'Oh, for God's sake!' he breathed and turned away from the door, his heart still racing and his breath coming short and fast.

As he moved away, Iole saw Iris standing in the doorway, leaning against the door frame, and breathing heavily, her hand too, clutching at her chest.

'That's twice in one day, now,' Iris managed to voice, between gasps.

'Oh, for Merlin's sake! You call yourselves Lunariors?' Iole cried in exasperation. 'This is how you go about working undercover??! Please tell me, the both of you, that this isn't what happened in front of Snape today!' Her eyes were blazing fiercely. She was not joking.

'Well, not exactly,' Iris said, still trying to recover from the shock. 'It wasn't quite as bad. I didn't squeal, for one thing.'

'I seem to remember a slight yelp, though,' Aidan volunteered. 'I, however, was definitely more composed; I certainly didn't jump back like that!'

'No. You didn't. You just stood there gaping at me like a startled rabbit,' Iris retorted, curtly. 'Your jaw was hanging so low you could have steered a galleon straight into your mouth.'

'You're one to talk!' Aidan began indignantly, but was interrupted, as Iole finally lost all patience.

'Both of you, out of my office, right now!' she screamed. 'I don't have time for bickering teenagers! Out! Now!'

Iris and Aidan turned to look at her wide-eyed.

'I have to talk to you,' Iris said. 'It's important! It's not my fault he's bickering! I came to see you, not him! I've seen quite enough of him for one day, already!'

'I beg your pardon!' Aidan scowled. 'How was I supposed to know you were at Hogwarts? It's not like anyone tells me anything around here! But even if I knew, there wasn't anything I could do about it. And, by the way, who's bickering?!'

'You are,' said Iris shortly. 'Iole, I really need to have a word!' she continued meaningfully, deciding that the best policy was to ignore him, or Iole would have them both thrown out.

'I'm expecting Fudge to show up any minute now. What is this about?' she asked testily.

'I erm... need to speak to you in private,' Iris said instead of an explanation, shooting a wary glance in Aidan's direction.

'Oh, right, fine. I mustn't forget I'm not supposed to know anything around here!' Aidan exclaimed sneeringly.

'Can we talk about this some other time?' Iris asked of him meaningfully.

'Aidan, get out of my office right now!' Iole screamed, almost simultaneously. 'I mean it! NOW!'

'Fine,' he said sweetly with exaggerated insouciance and headed for the door. 'I'll just go write that report we were talking about, shall I?'

'You do that,' Iole said sharply. 'On my desk, in...' she looked at her watch, 'forty-five minutes now!'

Aidan rolled his eyes, gritted his teeth and walked out of the room.

'I want to talk to you, before you leave,' he said ominously, spinning around suddenly to look at Iris.

'Fine,' she said calmly with a show of immeasurable patience. 'Now will you please let me get on with this?'

'Be my guest,' he said and walked away.

Iole sighed, shook her head and sat back down in her chair.

'Iris, you're going to have to make it quick, whatever it is. As I said, Fudge is on his way. He's going to show up any moment now.'

Iris walked over to Iole's desk and sat down in a seat across from her.

'I wanted to ask you exactly what you know about this situation. And I don't need you to repeat to me what you've already told Dumbledore. I want the details; all the important stuff that no one but you knows about,' Iris said flatly.

Iole's eyebrows rose.

'What makes you think I've got the time, or the inclination to give you all this information right now?'

'If you want Dumbledore as a willing ally, I think you'll develop the inclination very quickly,' said Iris in a manner that lacked any hint of threat, but served as one, just the same.

'My, aren't we getting cocky,' Iole commented through narrowed eyes. 'All that associating with Dumbledore seems to have rubbed off on you.'

'I'm being practical. I know you are too. Dumbledore is an invaluable asset and you don't want to alienate him like Fudge did, so adroitly, last summer. He wants more information and I think you should give it to him. There are powerful witches and wizards in that school Iole; we need them working with us,' Iris concluded. 'Our resources are stretched as it is, and things are likely to get much worse, before they get any better.'

Iole sat there quietly for a few minutes, contemplating Iris's words. It wasn't that she disagreed in any way, it was just that she was unaccustomed to sharing information. In her line of work it was something that didn't come naturally, unless one was trying to get people killed, or governments to collapse. Considering the fact that, right now, all of the above was most likely happening anyway, it wasn't that important any more. She was willing to contemplate sharing some information with Dumbledore. At least she was sure which side he was on, which was a rare blessing.

'Alright,' she said in the end. 'But first I want to see Fudge. Then I will talk to you. I'll give you all I've got, but I have to warn you, it's not much!'

Iris nodded quietly.

'Fine. That's all I ask,' she said and rose to leave. 'Just remember that I can't stay very long. I have to get back to Hogwarts.'

'Ok. But I also need you to tell me exactly what Dumbledore is doing about this; in detail,' Iole added.

'Ok,' Iris said and smiled wanly. 'I'll show you mine, if you show me yours...'

'Precisely,' Iole smiled back. 'Now please go and sort out your little problem with Aidan, whilst you're here. We don't need this sort of thing interfering with our operation, right now. Just please be careful what you tell him. I don't want him knowing what you're doing, and I certainly don't want him knowing about Snape!'

'Are you mad? Of course I wouldn't tell him about that! I'm not entirely incompetent, you know! Besides, there's nothing to sort out. He was just upset because we almost managed to blow his cover. It's understandable, I think.'

'Probably, but you definitely need to sort something out. So go and do it. That's an order!'

'Ok, Ok,' said Iris and raised her hands in a gesture of defeat. 'I'll go! I thought you were the one that said it wasn't a good idea to renew the acquaintance right now.'

'It wasn't. But it happened. So, sort it out.'

Iris clicked her heels together and stood up sharply to attention.

'Aye-aye, cap'n!' she said acidly, turned on her heel and left.

Left alone in her office for the grand total of two minutes, Iole set her elbows onto her desk and lowered her face into her hands.

'If I don't kill anyone today, it'll be a miracle,' she breathed to no one in particular. No sooner had she uttered the words, than another pop accompanied by a puff of purple smoke came from her fireplace.

'The Minister is here to see you, Ms. Ranger,' came Alice's voice.

'Send him up,' Iole said from within her hands.

Slowly, she straightened up, stretched her lower back and rubbed the ridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.

'Fudge. Great. Just what I needed to make my happiness complete,' she whispered to herself as she rose, preparing to welcome the Minister of Magic into her office.

Several hallways away, Iris walked into what could loosely have been termed a lounge. It doubled as an office, to people that -like herself -lacked one, or couldn't stand the sight of the people that worked with them any more, and a kitchen. Technically, that was three different functions, not two, but the bottom line was that if one was looking for somebody, chances were they would find them there.

It was a large room, filled with comfortable sofas, chairs and tables strewn with used mugs, plates, writing parchment of every conceivable type, ink and quills, and an enormous fireplace, blazing with flames the size of a bonfire. The only pictures hanging on the walls were landscapes and seascapes. The trees in the pictures seemed to sway in an invisible breeze and the ocean waves rolled, or smashed into the sand -or rocks, as the case may be -of the seaside images; but there was not a single moving person in sight. The people that had decorated this room had considered, wisely, that one could never be too careful. If you have moving, talking, listening portraits of people with personalities in a top secret Ministry installation, you had moving, talking, listening liabilities waiting to happen. Besides, the rustling foliage of the trees in the imaginary wind, and the rolling ocean waves served as a sorely needed audio-relaxation device. The people that visited this room usually tended to be slightly highly strung -if one was trying to be polite in the way they phrased this observation.

As she had expected, Iris located Aidan in the lounge, sitting in a somewhat dark, secluded corner, in an enormous, leather, winged armchair. His legs were crossed and on his knee he was balancing a roll of parchment he was scribbling on rather irritably.

His eyes flickered, briefly, over to the door as Iris walked into the room, and then back down at what he was writing.

'That was quick,' he said casually, as she approached.

'That was only Act I. Act II coming up after Fudge does us all a favour and goes back where he came from, so we can get on with doing something useful.'

Aidan's lips curled up in an amused sneer as he wrote.

'I'd forgotten what you thought of Fudge,' he said, without looking up.

Iris pulled up another armchair and sat down across from him.

'I'm glad to see that you have had the chance to calm down, a tad,' she remarked, entirely un-surprised by his apparent one-hundred-and-eighty degree mood revolution.

'It was wasting my time and my energy,' he said offhandedly.

'No kidding.'

He grinned to himself, his eyes suddenly softening with genuine emotion and his face lighting up in amusement. It was a complete transformation.

'You never were one to mince your words, were you?' he said, finally, laying down his quill and roll of parchment on a nearby table, the smile still lingering on his lips.

'Neither were you,' she observed.

'No... You think that's bad?'

'Everything in good measure,' she said with a wry grin.

'Hmm,' Aidan considered theatrically. 'You think that may be my problem?'

'Lack of good measure?'

'Uh huh.'

'Absolutely.'

'Thought so.'

They grinned at each other.

'Ok, enough of reminiscing on the good old days. What's the deal here?' he said suddenly, still smiling mischievously at her. 'What're you doing at Hogwarts?'

'Can't tell you,' she said, her smile too still firmly in place.

'Why did I know you were going to say that?' he wondered sarcastically. 'Ok, let's see if you can answer this one: Is what you're doing likely to have us run into each other again at the most inopportune moment?'

'I would say that's unlikely,' Iris replied. 'Unless you start making a habit of hanging around at Hogwarts.'

'Is there an echo in here? Iole said exactly the same thing, in those precise words!'

Iris shrugged.

'What can I say? The woman was speaking the truth.'

'At least now I have it from two sources. This is called cross-referencing,' Aidan said meaningfully and then added, 'I don't like surprises.'

'Who does?' said Iris reasonably. 'Unfortunately it comes with the territory. My turn now,' she concluded in the same breath.

'What were you doing at Hogwarts, anyway? Is this some new trend in the Death Eater circles, or something?'

Aidan grinned, lopsidedly.

'Is this part of your mission, or are we off the record?' he asked sardonically.

'Totally off the record,' Iris confirmed. 'You figure in my mission about as largely as a pretty vase on a mantelpiece would.'

'Oh, my God, what an amazingly insulting simile!' Aidan exclaimed. 'Or was that a metaphor?'

'I think that was a metaphor,' said Iris with an amused, but indulging smile.

'Whatever. In any case, I don't think I've ever been more insulted before in my life.'

'So, are you going to tell me, or not?' Iris steered the conversation back to the point.

'I was running an errand for the gang,' Aidan said sneeringly. 'I was picking up some potions we had asked that evil bastard Snape to make for us, yesterday.'

Iris remained impressively impassive at the less than flattering characterisation of Snape and instead just stared at Aidan in astonishment.

'You were there yesterday, too?'

'Yup,' he said simply. 'With a particularly twisted maniac by the name of Marcus Ireson. Just my luck, really, to have ended up with him! I mean, none of them would win any awards in the Mr. Congeniality contest, but I'm willing to bet that even Snape pales in comparison to Ireson. I tell you, he's an evil, twisted bugger! I keep fantasising about what I will do to him, personally, when the time comes! It's the only thing that's keeping me going.'

Iris was slightly surprised at Aidan's impassioned comment, but managed to keep her mind on the point.

'What potions did you ask Snape to make?'

'Don't know. Never saw the piece of parchment they were written on -it was probably in code, anyway -and the bottles are not labelled, of course. I just went there, picked up the package and delivered it to Ireson. They're a tad secretive, the lot of them, as you can well imagine.'

Iris shrugged resignedly and nodded in understanding. Yes, she could well imagine.

'Anyway, what'd you think of Snape?' Aidan suddenly asked. 'You're stuck with him in that place, presumably for months now. You've probably got some interesting little tit-bits of information on him by now... How evil is he exactly?'

Iris managed to smirk, instead of wincing, and pretend she was amused.

'Are you running bets on who's worse? Ireson or Snape?'

'Not yet, but there might be some good money in that idea. Especially if I've got an insider giving me all the good tips!' Aidan grinned. 'So, how evil is he?'

'I couldn't say,' Iris replied diplomatically. 'I personally haven't witnessed him doing anything particularly evil, yet. He's rather unpleasant, as personalities go, and the students just love him,' she sneered, genuinely this time. 'But, evil, I couldn't say.'

'Unpleasant?!' Aidan exclaimed in incredulous surprise. 'That's all you can say about him? He's merely "unpleasant"? He's a Death Eater, for God's sake. One of the old squad, and you think he's just slightly unpleasant?!'

'What do you want me to say? That he performs blood rituals by sacrificing students to his Lord and Master?... If he does, he's done a bleeming good job at covering up his tracks, I tell you; especially since we haven't had any students mysteriously disappear, or anything. However, don't get too disappointed just yet. There's plenty of time for him to show his true self, now that things have started coming to a head. Besides, you should know; it's the quiet unassuming ones that should really worry you. They're the ones that usually hide the most grizzly secrets!' she added meaningfully in the end.

'That's true,' Aidan agreed, pensively. 'Oh, well, I guess there's still a chance to make some money out of this,' he concluded lightly.

Iris grinned at him. In the back of her mind she was making a mental note to set Aidan straight on a couple of issues when all this was finally over, and assuming they were all still alive. But mostly, she was just glad she had had the chance to have this talk with him.

'Trust you to find a profit-making angle in anything,' she said instead.

'Hey, a bloke has to keep himself amused,' Aidan said in mock defensiveness. 'Anyway, I let you in on it, didn't I?'

'You did,' said Iris grudgingly. 'I'm eternally grateful!'

'It was the least I could do. Considering you almost broke my cover, and everything!'

'Has it even occurred to you that you almost broke my cover too?' Iris asked in exasperation.

'Yes. But I'm pretty sure you'll be able to convince Snape of the exact opposite of whatever it is he's thinking, by wrapping him round your little finger, like you always do, with irritating ease. I know; I'm speaking from personal experience!'

'I don't know if I should be insulted or flattered, now,' Iris remarked, shaking her head in despair. 'And I don't even want to imagine whatever it is you are insinuating!'

'You should be flattered,' Aidan said calmly. 'And I'm not insinuating anything. It's a compliment.'

'A compliment!' Iris exclaimed. 'How's being accused of wrapping people round my little finger a compliment?'

'I never said I didn't like it!' he grinned at her innocently.

Iris swallowed slowly, and pursed her lips to stop herself from smiling.

'Touché,' she said in the end. 'However, that was under entirely different circumstances! I'm not sure it works on Death Eaters,' she gibed.

Aidan shrugged.

'Is he conscious? Is he human... remotely?...It'll work!'

Iris chuckled.

'You're too much! You know that?' she said.

'Yes. You've said so before.'

'I was right.'

'You probably were. Having said that, you're quite a handful yourself!'

'I have no idea what you're talking about!' said Iris feigning indignation.

Aidan leaned back in his armchair and laughed, heartily.

Many miles away, a large, black shaggy dog followed a purposefully striding Snape into Hogwarts through the school's Main Gate.

A pop followed by a puff of green smoke came out of the fireplace in the Haven's lounge.

'Glad to see you two have returned to your senses. Iris, in my office, now,' Iole's head said from within the flames, and promptly disappeared.

'Got to go,' Iris said immediately to Aidan. He nodded.

'Go. And good luck, with whatever it is you're doing. Be careful, ok?'

'You be careful!' Iris said meaningfully as she rose. 'I'm snugly ensconced in what's possibly the safest place in Britain. I don't need to be careful.'

'Yeah, yeah, just do as you're told, ok?' Aidan joked dismissively.

Iris smiled at him wryly.

'I will if you do.'

'Ok, it's a deal. I'll be careful. Now go!'

Iris turned and hurried out of the room, pausing only to shoot one last glance and a smile in Aidan's direction as she walked out the door. He winked at her.

'Close the door Iris,' Iole said without looking back at her. She was standing in front of her fireplace, hands clasped behind her back and staring into the flames.

Iris did as she was told.

'Ok, this is what I have for you. We have ten dead prisoners that never made it out of Azkaban. We have recaptured seven of the ones that escaped. There's still another fifty-five of them on the loose. That doesn't include the convicted Death Eaters. We're not expecting to find those any time soon. Every Auror in the Ministry's employ has been scrambled, and they're all out there trying to hunt down the escapees. So far, we've only had two civilian casualties. One Auror is out of action, but it looks like he'll survive. Fudge seems to think that the fact that no one has tried to attack the Ministry yet is a good sign, delusional idiot that he is. I tried to convince him that it would be a good idea if he contacted some of his foreign counterparts and asked for reinforcements. A few more Aurors wouldn't go amiss. However, in his infinite wisdom, he seems to think that asking for help at "the first sign of trouble", as he put it, would be detrimental to his image. "We wouldn't want it to look like we can't deal with our own internal problems",' Iole snarled, in a contemptuously infuriated impression of Fudge.

'Anyway, instead of asking for more Aurors, he thought it would be a good idea if the Department loaned him some Lunariors, mainly for his own protection,' she continued with a vicious sneer. 'I told him I couldn't spare any and that he should be able to look after himself. The only person I'm willing to spare a couple of people for is the protection of the Muggle Prime Minister and his cabinet. That's it. Fudge didn't take it too kindly that I was willing to spare people to protect a Muggle and not the Minister of Magic.' She shook her head in despairing disbelief and suddenly whirled around to look at Iris for the first time. 'If this ever ends, and we're all still alive, remind me to make sure Fudge is promptly replaced by someone competent,' she said. 'That's an order!'

Iris nodded quietly.

'I'll remind you. You don't have to ask me twice! I never liked the idiot!'

'That makes two of us. Now, back to business. I think Voldermort is going to go for the Muggles. Fudge and his people think that he's going to go for the Ministry. You get to decide which one's more likely. Of course, there's always the chance that he could go for both, simultaneously, or neither,' she shrugged in the end.

'Do we have any other ideas of what the alternatives may be?'

'Nope. But I'm open to suggestions.'

'Why would he go for the Muggles? I mean, besides the fact that he thinks they're roughly equivalent to vermin...'

'Because he thinks they're roughly equivalent to vermin. If he manages to take out part, or all of their government in one fell swoop, then he'll have the entire of Britain in complete mayhem, the Ministry trying to cover up his tracks and not paying attention to whatever else he's doing and that would also give him the opportunity to take out the Ministry, and generally give him a free rein to subdue the entire country; Wizards and Muggles alike -well, whatever Muggles there would be left.'

Iris's brow creased in consternation.

'And what then? The rest of the world?' She couldn't believe she was saying that. It sounded like the most ludicrous proposition she had ever heard. One would have had to be insane... But then, who said Voldermort was in his right mind, anyway?

'You think it's unlikely?' Iole asked meaningfully.

'Well, it does sound a bit far-fetched, but then Voldermort probably thinks he is God, or something, so, all in all, no. I don't think it's unlikely that his plan is to rule the universe. I'm just not sure that that is the way he's planning to go about it.'

'Well, neither am I. But we have to have a working hypothesis. Having said that, I don't think he's about to make any major strikes against the Muggles right now. I think he's going to wait, and plan, and be very very organised. He might just start off with a few small-scale attacks, just to create some more confusion... maybe take out one or two key people... Fudge would be a good start. However, if you take him out, then you run the risk of actually getting someone intelligent taking his place, and why would he want that? It's so much more convenient having an incompetent Minister for Magic -he does half your work for you!'

'True,' Iris conceded. 'But there's always Dumbledore to contend with. He's not just going to sit around happily watching, while Voldermort implements his plan to take over the world. He must know that. He will want to do something about it, won't he?'

'Yes, which brings us nicely to my next question. What is Dumbledore doing about all this?'

'Pretty much all he can, I'd say. Even as we speak Hogwarts is being transformed into a fortress,' said Iris and finally went to lean against Iole's desk. 'Before we go into this, though, I wanted to ask. Has the Muggle Prime Minister been informed about what is going on?'

'According to Fudge, yes. Although I wouldn't be able to vouch for exactly what he was told. I have the feeling that Fudge might have understated the problem somewhat.'

Iris bit her lip and grimaced.

'Can't you get through to them instead?' she asked.

'I can. I just don't want them getting conflicting reports. That's just going to confuse them even more. It's not as if they know how to deal with all this anyway, is it? I will try and get in touch with some of my contacts, as soon as you leave, and see if I can find out what Fudge told them; then I'll go from there.'

'Ok.'

'Right. Back to Dumbledore. What's he doing?'

Iris rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms, sighed, and started talking.

Snape stared in disdain, through narrowed calculating eyes, at the large black dog standing at his side. The dog stared calmly back at him, waiting.

The stone gargoyle standing guard outside Dumbledore's office remained immobile, glaring down at the both of them.

'Rainbow Trifle,' Snape growled quietly, without taking his eyes for a second off the dog. It seemed to be leering annoyingly at him. As the gargoyle started swinging open, a loud flutter of wings overhead made the dog's head snap up, in an effort to locate the source of the sound. Snape didn't so much as blink as a rather enormous looking crow landed smoothly on his shoulder.

'After you,' he sneered at the dog, which immediately trotted forward and onto the revolving spiral staircase, 'mutt,' Snape added under his breath as he followed suit. The gargoyle swung silently back into place behind them.

'Come in, come in,' Dumbledore's voice came pleasantly from behind his office door as they stepped off the staircase.

The dog nudged the door with its muzzle and trotted in through the narrow gap. Behind it, pushing the door open came Snape, but the dog was no longer in Dumbledore's office. In its place stood a tall, lean man with shoulder-length black hair and an amiably handsome face. He turned to look at Snape as he walked in, eyes sparkling mischievously.

'New friend of yours?' he asked sardonically, his eyes flitting over to the crow still perched on Snape's shoulder. 'Suits you,' he added and the corner of his mouth twitched imperceptibly in amusement.

Snape's eyes grew colder by several degrees and his lips tightened, but he didn't answer. He just turned his gaze away, allowing Hades to do the rest of the staring. Although he would never have admitted it to anyone out loud, Hades was even better at staring disconcertingly at people than he was, as he had discovered over the past few months. And, right now, Hades was already staring very persistently at Sirius Black, his expressionless black eyes doing a wonderful job at exuding the kind of coldness Snape could only dream of achieving.

'Now, now... Enough of that,' Dumbledore's kindly voice interrupted them. 'We have no time for this sort of thing.'

Snape's eyebrows rose and he turned to stare, meaningfully, at Sirius. He wasn't going to deign this inane exercise with a comment, especially if he could just as well achieve the same level of eloquence with nothing more than a stare.

Sirius's nostril's flared and his lips curled up in an amused smirk.

'Seems I'm to blame,' he said with exaggerated graciousness. 'I apologise,' he added humbly.

'Apology accepted,' Dumbledore said, mildly amused by the performance. As long as they weren't actually going for each other's throat, he was happy... for the time being. A slight chilliness in the atmosphere he could put up with.

'Albus, if there isn't anything else...' Snape spoke for the first time, not entirely successful at concealing a deep-seated desire to leave the room and the sight of Sirius.

'Just this,' Dumbledore said and set a tiny piece of chalk on his desk, within Snape's reach.

'Ah, yes,' Snape murmured and picked it up, slipping it into his robe pocket. Hades continued staring coldly at Sirius, his head swivelling around at an even rate as Snape moved towards Dumbledore's desk so as not to break eye contact even for a second.

'And please, tell Iris, when she gets back, that I don't want her going out tonight on her own. It's already dark, and I'd feel more comfortable if someone was with her, since she's going to be venturing so far outside Hogwarts grounds. I want her to see me, before she attempts anything. Maybe Sirius could accompany her...'

Snape's eyes suddenly blazed, his lips tightened and he glowered at Dumbledore as he loomed over his desk. The reaction had the desired effect of not going unnoticed.

'... If you are otherwise occupied at the time, of course, Severus,' Dumbledore added hurriedly, the slight, amused tremble of his moustache only noticeable to the most perceptive observer.

'I don't believe I have any other pressing matters to attend to,' Snape growled quietly.

'Good, good,' Dumbledore nodded with a wide, beaming smile. 'Just make sure she comes to see me when she gets back, and before you go out on your little expedition.'

'I will,' Snape said and turned to leave, his eyes falling unintentionally on Sirius who found himself the recipient of a coordinated dual stare of glacial quality-squared, from both Snape and Hades.

It only lasted for a second though, and then Snape swept past him, Hades also, finally breaking eye contact, as Snape headed for the door.

'I don't think your crow likes me,' Sirius commented innocently, with a sly grin directed at Snape's back.

'I can't think why,' said Snape flatly and disappeared.

About an hour and a half later, Iris managed to make her way back into Hogwarts. It hadn't been easy with Flitwick's and McGonagall's newly expanded Apparition barrier. She had been forced to walk a couple of miles over rugged countryside, just to make it to the Main Gate. She hadn't wanted to risk Apparating any nearer to Hogwarts than that, since she wasn't sure of the exact radius of the new perimeter. Getting herself splinched, at this point, was an option she found even less attractive than hiking over hill and dell for an hour or so; an hour she had wiled away by cursing herself repeatedly for her lack of foresight. She should have thought of taking her broom with her.

She walked hurriedly in through the school's Entrance Hall, glancing at her watch as she went and groaning, when she realised it was already seven o'clock.

'Presumably it would be a waste of breath asking you what it was that took you so long.'

Iris jumped at the unexpected sound of the softly scowling voice that came from somewhere to her left. She spun around to face Snape's dark figure slowly emerging from the shadows of a dimly lit corner.

'Are you trying to give me a heart-attack?' she said testily. 'I was hiking over heath and bloody dell for an hour to get here! What do you think I was doing?'

'No broom?' he asked smoothly.

'Don't you start!' Iris growled. 'I forgot the bloody broom, ok?'

'That much would seem obvious.'

Iris glowered at him.

'Is there some reason you are waiting for me by the door, or did you just miss me so much you couldn't wait till tomorrow?' she asked malevolently.

His eyes flashed irritably but he refused to dignify a low blow like that with a reply.

'I am to inform you that you are not to venture outside Hogwarts tonight on your own. Also, Dumbledore wants to see you. Immediately,' he said and swept around in a flurry of black, heading towards the dungeons. 'I will be in my office,' he added, mysteriously, without turning, just before his stalking figure was swallowed up by the shadows haunting the dimly lit corridor.

Iris's brow creased in puzzlement at his last comment, but she quickly shrugged the thought away and walked off to see Dumbledore.

Half an hour later, Iris barged into Snape's office without even bothering to knock. It was the first time she had ever seen him jump.

'Finally! A normal human reaction!' she grinned at his surprise. 'I was starting to wonder...'

Snape clenched his teeth to stop himself from saying something truly malicious as his surprise instantly transmuted into anger.

'Now, No! Don't do that,' she said warningly, shaking a finger at him, but with good-humour still evident in her tone. 'Don't get that dangerous look in your eye. That was a complement, in case you didn't realise!'

For a moment, he didn't say anything.

'You seem to have acquired a remarkably jocular mood all of a sudden,' he managed forcedly.

'I'm just paying you back for earlier. See how you like it!' she said, grinning broadly at him. 'I think you deserve it, don't you?'

'I think that's a matter of opinion,' Snape said with a faint sneer, but he was starting to relax again, despite his best efforts not to. Her moods were infectious, he was starting to realise to his dismay.

'Most things are,' she said offhandedly, and promptly dropped into a chair in front of his desk. 'So, it seems you are to be my partner in crime, tonight,' she added suddenly. 'When do we leave?'

'Whenever you're ready.'

'I'm ready, hopefully able, and definitely willing! If I sit down for more than two minutes now, I'm not going to get up again. I know. The trick is to keep going!'

Snape found it impossible to control the amused smirk that tickled the corners of his mouth.

'Are you aware that you have the most extreme mood swings I have ever had the displeasure of encountering?' he said.

'Mood swings? Moi?' she asked innocently. 'I have nothing of the sort. This is nothing more than a mechanism to keep me going under conditions of extreme stress. I occasionally let drop the odd snap at people, but I generally try to avoid it. Humour is hugely preferable, I find...; and disconcerting. People don't know how to react, so they back off. Much like...'

'-Yes, yes, alright,' he interrupted her. 'There's no need for an elaborate exposition on the subject. The implication is perfectly, clear; thank you,' Snape said as he rose from his chair.

Iris made no move to follow, but watched him, as he rose, and the smile reflecting in her eyes changed ever so slightly, becoming suddenly quieter, gentler, more affectionate; he shied away from the word 'embracing'. The change was the most subtle, faintest, almost imperceptible change imaginable, and yet it was surprisingly difficult to avoid the use of the term 'embracing' to describing its character. The dreaded word kept popping back into his mind, no matter how hard he shied away from it, so he took refuge in cynicism instead.

'Did you not just declare yourself ready, able and willing?' he asked dryly.

'I did,' she said without so much as blinking.

'So why are we still here?'

'I'm thinking about it.'

'Have you come to any conclusion?'

'Yes. I'm mainly willing.'

'How about able, and ready?'

'The jury is still out on that one.'

'I hate to be the one to point this out to you, but no matter how long you think about it, the prospect is not going to become any more attractive. So, at the risk of sounding slightly impetuous, shall we make a start?'

She pursed her lips and her brow quivered for a moment, but finally she gave in, and a strange little, private smile flitted across her face. Snape frowned, as he watched the sequence of emotions scurry hurriedly over her features and he tried to understand what had provoked this reaction. Then his eyes suddenly widened in horror as he realised what it was they had just been talking about. It certainly didn't involve Dementors or nocturnal expeditions into the countryside, although different kinds of nocturnal activity would have been something more than a distinct possibility. At least she had been talking about it, it seemed; his had been nothing more than several, consecutive, unfortunate turns of phrase. He knew of certain schools of psychology that would have been able to make an enormous issue out of this, but he didn't subscribe to any one of them. Instead he very quickly made a mental note to never use the preposition 'we' in her presence, ever again.

The look of utterly shocked horror on his face was there just long enough for Iris first to start sniggering, and then to decide to take pity on him.

'Come on!' she suddenly said, decisively, getting up from her seat. 'We have a Dementor Alarm to set up. You can just put the entire last part of the conversation down to stress playing havoc with my sense of humour,' she added as she strode out the door.

'That would be one option,' he said as he followed her a bit uncertainly.

'What's the alternative?'

'Putting it down to an innately evil and licentious nature,' he scowled.

Iris snorted and laughed.

'I would have thought that you would at least have blamed it on my scandalous French influences.'

'That too, of course,' said Snape smoothly.

'You are much too easily shocked. I blame it on old age setting in.'

His eyes blazed and he glared at her back, as she walked on ahead of him.

'Of course, wanton frivolity is a typical trait of juvenile immaturity.'

'Ouch!' Iris chuckled good-naturedly. 'Touché! Glad to see you haven't lost your touch, at least. However, much to my regret, my adolescence happened so long ago, I can hardly remember it.'

'I think that too, is a matter of opinion.'

'And what is your opinion about taking our brooms with us, this time?' Iris asked casually as they walked out the school's Main Entrance and paused at the top of the huge stone steps leading down into the grounds.

Snape stopped, stared at her for a moment, then closed his eyes and sighed, expansively. How was he supposed to focus, and remember things like that, when he was being harried by this infuriating woman?

Iris looked back at him innocently, and raised her eyebrows.

'Right,' Snape sighed resignedly and whipped his wand out. Iris beamed at him and did the same.

'Accio broom!' both of them called out simultaneously, then calmly slipped their wands back into their robes, folded their arms across their chests and waited; the only sound audible for the next few seconds being the ill-tempered tapping of Snape's foot on the ground.

Around five seconds passed uneventfully in this way and then Snape, without turning, or even so much as blinking, calmly raised his right arm and opened his hand as if waiting to catch something. Iris frowned in puzzlement, and looked around her, straining to hear anything that might have announced the approach of a flying object. Nothing. She looked back at him, just in time to see a broom swooping noiselessly into his outstretched hand. She felt her jaw drop.

'How did you do that?' she asked in amazement.

'You might want to watch out,' he said impassively and Iris realised there was a faint whooshing noise coming from somewhere behind her. She spun round and caught her broom in mid-air, although somewhat less impressively than Snape's little performance. Immediately, she turned back to him, determined to get to the bottom of this.

'Did you hear it coming?' she continued, undaunted. 'Is that it? How could you have heard it? The bloody thing made no sound at all!'

'I have had an inordinate amount of practice. I am expertly trained at hearing the faintest whisper between troublesome teenagers, over the sound of bubbling cauldrons, ingredients being chopped, and occasionally, explosions,' he said and brought his broom to rest upright on the ground, bristle side down.

She gaped at him.

'I'm speechless,' she managed to announce in the end.

'Just as well, I suppose,' he replied and he stepped sideways onto the head of the broom's bristles with his right foot. 'Are you coming?' he asked rhetorically as he shifted his weight, ever so slightly, to lean the same leg onto the broomstick and the broom immediately started rising into the air.

'Now you're just showing off, aren't you?' Iris said with mock irritation, not yet making any attempt of her own to mount her broom.

'Why in the name of Merlin would I feel compelled to do that for your benefit?' Snape sneered from around six feet above her head.

'Race you to the Gate,' Iris said suddenly, with a wicked smile on her face, deciding to ignore his question altogether. He wouldn't have liked her answer anyway.

'I have a head-start,' Snape pointed out the obvious with an amused sneer.

'Keep it,' she said.

'Fine,' said Snape tolerantly. 'Let's indulge your youthful frivolity a bit longer.'

'Yes, let's,' Iris said, and stepped with discreet elegance onto her broom, her long robes hiding most of the movement. 'Winner decides the prize?' she asked offhandedly.

'Are you sure about that?'

'Absolutely.'

'As you wish.'

'Fine. GO!' she cried suddenly and took off.

Snape saw a dark blur, like a smudge in the air, flying past him and only then did he realise she was already gone.

'Bitch,' he breathed, and leaned forward over his broom. It immediately shot forward at a speed roughly equivalent to those achieved by Muggle racing cars and he too disappeared into the darkness.

'Don't give me that! I won!' Iris said indignantly as they walked amongst the trees, roughly two miles outside Hogwarts grounds.

'You didn't,' Snape said flatly, following her lead and the warm glow being shed by her wand, lighting the way.

'I did. You had a head start and everything. What more do you want?'

'A chance to realise that the race had started.'

'You had a head start! You think I was about to let you keep it? Besides, it's not my fault you're obviously not the racing type.'

'That has nothing to do with it. You used deceit to get ahead.'

She paused and turned around to look at him with meaningful cynicism.

'And you, being so unfamiliar with that concept, couldn't possibly imagine someone using it against you...'

'What exactly are you insinuating?' he scowled quietly at her.

'That you should have known better than to believe I'd let you keep a head start.'

'Admitting to an obviously inexcusable misjudgement of your character on my part, it is still irrelevant. It was a dead heat. I don't call that winning, by any stretch of the imagination.'

'I obviously need to remind you that, even though your broom is substantially taller than mine, the edge of my broom handle was a very clear four inches ahead of yours!'

'It was nothing of the sort. A trick of the light -or lack thereof -nothing more.'

Iris suddenly stopped short, shook her head once, then tilted it to one side and finally turned to look at him -her eyes sparkling strangely under the warm glow of her wand.

'Now you're having me on, aren't you?' she said, smiling shrewdly at him.

Silence.

'You are, aren't you?!'

The corner of his mouth twitched imperceptibly and then his lips quivered.

'You are!' Iris cried. 'You bastard! You know I won, and all this time you've just been winding me up!'

He pursed his lips tightly to stop himself from grinning smugly at her, and folded his arms across his chest.

'I am entitled to a consolation prize. This was it,' he said as expressionlessly as he could manage. 'Now, I believe it's your turn to name your prize.'

Iris's eyes narrowed threateningly, their sparkle somehow becoming brighter in the process.

'I'm going to have to think very carefully about this now,' she said, a clear hint of danger in her tone. 'I reserve the right to name my prize at my convenience.'

'Do I get to lodge a complaint against such an arbitrary procedure?'

'No.'

'Very well, just be aware that, if you make up the rules as you go along, then so will I,' he said flatly.

'Fine. Do your worst,' she said lightly and turned back to the virtually invisible path they had been following till a few moments earlier.

'I mean to.'

'Never doubted it for a second.'

'Right. This looks like a good place to start,' Iris announced a few minutes later, stopping in front of an enormous, ancient oak tree. 'I think it's probably a good idea to go for the older ones; they tend to be more aware; they have seen more things than I'd even care to imagine. No substitute for experience, if you ask me.'

'Couldn't agree with you more,' Snape remarked casually.

'Great,' said Iris, ignoring the insinuation. 'Shall we say, a sentinel every couple of hundred yards, or does that sound too far apart, you think?'

'Give or take forty or fifty yards... I think it's adequate.'

'Good. Now, how about making yourself useful, since you're here, and giving me some light? I'm going to need my wand,' she said, and the warm glow that had been guiding them so far went out.

She barely had time to finish her sentence before light flared up, silently, behind her, shedding a different, silvery glow like moonlight, around them.

'Anything else I can do for you?' Snape asked sneeringly.

'I will let you know if I need something,' she replied and proceeded with her now extinguished wand towards the old oak tree.

Snape watched her with overt interest as she reached out with her left hand and stroked the gnarled, twisted bark gently, caressingly even. Soon she started whispering something inaudible and Snape couldn't tell if she was talking to the tree, or if she had already began an incantation. Mesmerised by the sight, he stood there, silently watching the ghostly apparition of a woman, her face and beautiful slim hands seeming so pale they became almost translucent in the cold silvery light, while the rest of her was swallowed up by the long, writhing shadows that embraced her. She leaned closer to the tree, resting her temple against its bark and closed her eyes, but continued speaking in a gentle undertone, as she raised her wand arm slowly. She turned her head gradually to lean her forehead against the rough bark and her dark hair concealed what was left of her from view. She seemed to slowly disappear, blending in to become one with the tree; only her right hand remained, ghostly and shimmering holding her wand loosely, as she brought it to rest on the tree's trunk, palm down, wand flat against the dark bark. For a moment, the wand too vanished, fusing into darkness, and then suddenly it flashed, brightly golden, lighting up her entire form, for no more than an instant; then everything was dark again.

Iris sighed, slowly, and gently pulled away from the enormous oak. She turned to look at Snape and saw him staring at her wide-eyed. She had never seen that look before in his eyes. There was something genuinely unguarded about the way he was gazing at her. She smiled at him crookedly.

'Not what you expected?'

Snape cleared his throat before answering.

'I don't know what I expected; but it wasn't that.'

'Oh, well, now you know. If you're interested, I'll tell you how I did it, some day. Moving on?' she added in the end. 'We've got a lot of ground to cover.'

'Indeed. After you,' he said a bit uncertainly.

'Always such a gentleman!' There was no more than the slightest hint of playfulness in her tone.

'Yes, yes. Ok! Moving on!' said Snape feigning irritation and miraculously regaining his usual sarcastic composure.

Iris smiled wryly, turned away from him and mounted her broom.

Midnight came and went and they still had another mile or two to cover. By half-past one in the morning, however, they were almost back where they had started.

'Oh, God, I don't think I've ever been more tired before in my life!' Iris groaned as she pulled away from the last sentinel, a towering, proud cypress tree. 'At least it provoked some sympathy from her!' she added jerking her thumb in the cypress tree's direction.

'I beg your pardon?' said Snape in confusion. 'Her?'

'It's a she,' said Iris offhandedly.

'It's tree. It's an it!'

'Not always. Cypress trees have genders. See how her branches don't go up in the usual compact, cone shape you usually associate with cypress trees, but they spread out a bit more, something like a very tall, very dignified pine tree? That's the female of the species. Only the males have the very distinctive pointy, cone shape thing going on. How Freudian-ly appropriate, I hear you say. Well, never let it be said that the universe doesn't have a sense of humour!'

Snape frowned and shook his head in despair.

'I will put that last little speech down to fatigue-related impairment of your faculties.'

'As you wish. Now, can we please go home!' she added plaintively. 'I would happily kill someone right now, for a very large, very hot cup of coffee! Don't forget, we still have to figure out what we're going to charm to act as a receiver, now we've got all the sentinels set up.'

'I haven't forgotten. Although in some respects I wish I had.'

'Well, you asked for this!' she said. 'So you've no right to complain!'

'What?' Snape said threateningly.

Iris grinned.

'Albus said you very kindly offered your services tonight.'

Snape glared at her furiously, but couldn't very well deny the truth of the matter. He also couldn't believe that Dumbledore had told her.

'That infuriating old...!' he growled.

'-Did well to tell me,' she interrupted him. 'I'm glad you offered. I'd rather be out here with someone I know, than with some strange animagus I only just met, and whom the entire world still thinks is guilty of killing all those people fifteen years ago -even if he didn't do it.'

'You met Black?' Snape asked suspiciously.

'Briefly. Got the impression that you and him don't exactly see eye to eye.'

'Whatever gave you that impression?!' Snape sneered.

'Oh, I don't know. Let's just say it was something in the air...'

'You mean Dumbledore told you that too.'

'Yes.'

'Well, it figures!' he grunted in exasperation and whirled around, walking a few yards away from her, shaking his head and trying to regain some of his long lost composure.

'He only wanted to warn me that if I ever find myself in the same room with you two I might experience a slight... chill in the atmosphere -just so I'm aware of the situation. That's all. Now will you please calm down so we can get a move on? I'm absolutely wiped out here, and we've still got work to do!'

'Is that all he told you?' Snape spun around to face her again.

'I swear, that is all he said. I have no idea what your little problem with Sirius Black is, or his with you for that matter; besides the obvious clash of personalities and egos, of course,' she added with an innocent shrug in the end.

Her last comment threw Snape so much that he stood there, staring speechlessly at her for a few moments. Then his eyes sparkled strangely and a shrewd smile started breaking out on his lips. In all these years, she was the first person that had openly acknowledged the blindingly obvious and hadn't immediately resorted to blaming the problem on the apparent spitefulness of his character.

'You mean you weren't instantly enchanted by his "roguish charm" too, along with practically everyone else in the universe?' he asked dryly.

Iris snorted.

'My dear Severus, you forget whom you are talking to. My scandalous French influences have served me well at least in one area of my life. Experience does not allow me to be impressed by that sort of twaddle! Roguish charm, as you so aptly put it, and similar balderdash stopped impressing me at the age of seventeen! I'm immune,' she added in the end. 'Having said that, he didn't seem like a bad sort, overall.'

'That's a matter of opinion,' Snape said sourly.

'Undoubtedly. Now can we please go?' she pleaded for the third time.

'Yes. Now we... can...' The last part of his sentence came hesitantly and suddenly trailed off into silence. His brow furrowed and he froze; every one of his senses heightening as far as they could go, every particle of his body suddenly alert. A shiver went down his spine and the pit of his stomach suddenly contracted, painfully. Fear rose up to his throat like a wave swelling up inside him; a wave that was still very far away from peaking, and yet sweat was already breaking out on his forehead.

'Iris, get your wand out,' he breathed roughly in warning; but there was no need. By now she had felt it too, the same sick feeling at the pit of her stomach, the same fierce pounding within her chest, the sweat making her palms slippery and cold. Her wand was already in her hand.

Instinctively they drew closer together, facing out towards the still invisible threat.

'Geez, how many of them are there?' she breathed, as another shiver went down her spine and her heart started beating even faster. Horrible images started flitting through her mind and her effort to ignore them was taking up every ounce of willpower she possessed.

She didn't notice him shudder, beside her, and she didn't hear the agonised screams resounding in his mind with sickeningly tangible realism. It was just as well; he was trying not to either, but the effort the feat required was immense, and it was getting harder as, one by one, the Dementors began appearing, gliding soundlessly through the trees.

One, two, three...five, Iris concluded her mental count, only to be corrected immediately.

'Six,' he whispered, and only then did she see the sixth one approaching from his right.

'Great,' she whispered back. 'Think we can take them all?' she asked, mostly as a means to avoid the images her mind was presenting her with, brighter, clear, more gruesomely real by the second.

'I don't know. How good is your Patronus?'

'How good is yours?' she replied.

'EXPECTO PATRONUM!' they cried simultaneously, pointing their wands at the two closest Dementors.

A blinding ribbon of silver light issued from the tips of their wands, transforming, as it shot forward, into something quite different. A brightly shining silver figure took form in front of Iris, unfurled his enormous wings and strode forward against the Dementor, his shoulder length silver hair and his insubstantial robes streaming behind him. He was wielding a sword that seemed to be on fire. The Dementor staggered, cowered and backed away hurriedly from the angel's onslaught.

Virtually simultaneously, another silver figure was taking shape in front of Snape. This one had streaming silver hair that reached the small of her back. She appeared with her arms and shimmering wings outspread, translucent gown rippling around her feet, a spear held in her right hand, a shield gripped tightly in the other. She flexed her wings, tilted her spear forward and flew at the second approaching Dementor. It recoiled in the face of the attack and desperately tried to avoid contact with the angel's spear.

Iris turned her wand in the direction of a second Dementor that was by now almost upon her. Her angel whirled around and flew against it, flaming sword extended in front of him. The Dementor realised it was under attack a fraction too late. It stumbled backwards, but the silver sword went right through the tattered grey robes, and, with an ear-splitting shriek the Dementor crumbled to the ground, nothing more than a dirty, heap of grey cloth.

Snape's Patronus was also repelling its second Dementor, the first one already defeated and now no more than a pile of robes on the frosty ground. The angelic figure advanced against the closest threat, which had no choice but to back away; but before she could do any terminal harm, Snape swivelled his wand around to point to the third and last Dementor coming at him. The angel swooped away from her second foe to attack the third, now a mere six feet away from Snape. She dove between Snape and the Dementor, shield held in front of her, spear at the ready. The Dementor stumbled away, as if surprised by the speed with which the Patronus reacted. The angel summarily tilted her spear down and took a flying lunge at the Dementor. The gleaming silver spearhead made contact, penetrated and with another bloodcurdling shriek the Dementor was gone.

Snape looked quickly around, trying to locate the Dementor that had got away, but couldn't see it anywhere. A horrible thought occurred to him; he whirled around and saw it gliding up behind Iris. It was almost upon her, and her own Patronus was busy fighting off two more of them. If Iris went down, so would her Patronus, and then he would have to try and fight off three Dementors on behalf of the both of them. It was a split second decision he was called upon to make: Who would get between Iris and the Dementor quicker, he or his Patronus? It took no more than a split second; he knew the answer to that question very well.

Snape disappeared from Iris's right side and almost the same instant reappeared behind her, between her and the advancing Dementor, his wand already pointed towards it.

As Iris's angel took one of the Dementors' head clean off with his flaming sword, she realised what was happening. Snape had suddenly Apparated behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his Patronus flying towards something she could only assume was another Dementor. Although she couldn't see behind her, somehow, she knew it was going to be a close thing, but she still had one Dementor in front of her she had to dispatch, and, no matter how much every fibre in her body wanted to send her Patronus to his aid, she knew that the best thing she could do was take care of the threat she was responsible for and hope that Snape's angel would get there in time. Before she had even finished her thought, her Patronus was already charging, with unprecedented vigour, sword held high above his head, hair streaming away from his silver face fixed in a soundless roar of rage. The Dementor in front of Iris looked up, saw the silver Patronus diving for it, looked one more time down at Iris and Snape, and then, as if suddenly making up its mind, it staggered backwards as fast as it could, turned and disappeared noiselessly into the wood.

A strangled cry from behind her made her whirl around just as her Dementor was turning to flee. What she saw made her blood freeze and her heart almost stop beating. As if of its own accord, her wand turned to point at the last remaining Dementor looming over Snape's kneeling figure and holding him pinned to the ground with one unyielding arm. The Dementor was leaning forward, the impenetrable darkness of its hood no more than a foot away from him now. She didn't realise it at the time, but for a few seconds she had stopped breathing. Wide-eyed, she stood there, staring helplessly -and then two brightly shining angels swooped down in a flurry of silver. She heard the rustle of wings, the whistle of a sword slicing through the air and the hiss of a lunging spear, and then a scream that came from another world, inhabited by nightmares and shrouded in shadows. An empty, grey shroud crumpled to the ground and with a sharp, grateful intake of breath Iris fell to her knees in debilitating relief. Two silver angels shimmered one last time and disappeared.

Her breath still coming in short, rugged gasps, she half-pushed herself to her feet, half crawled, half stumbled a few feet forward and sank back down to the ground behind Snape's kneeling figure. All she could see were his heaving shoulders and his long black hair hiding his face from view.

She reached out a rather tremulous hand and touched his shoulder gently.

'Are you ok?' she panted.

'Yes,' came the reply quietly. 'You?'

'Fine.'

No one spoke for a moment, as both of them fought to catch their breath and to process what had just happened.

'It seems my question was answered.' Snape was the first to speak, quietly, without turning to look at her.

'What question?'

'How good is your Patronus?'

Despite herself, Iris smiled.

'Yes. I expect it was.'

'The flaming sword was a nice touch. Striking fellow, your Patronus; impressive wingspan...'

'Yours wasn't lacking in impressiveness, either, I noticed.'

Slowly he turned round to look at her for the first time. Sweat still glistened on his forehead, and his face was pale, but his eyes were regaining their usual sparkle, his gaze as sharp as always.

'I have never before encountered another witch or wizard with an angel for a Patronus,' he stated simply.

'Neither have I,' Iris confirmed quietly after a moment.

'I can't think why, though!' she continued lightly all of a sudden. 'They seem to do a cracking job, if you ask me!'

Snape managed a knowledgeable smirk.

'It has probably got something to do with people thinking of angels as insipid infants, with puny little wings, carrying harps and twittering around pink clouds all day.'

Iris laughed; and it was the most relieved, the most welcome laugh she could ever remember having.

*

Day was just breaking; the edge of the horizon only barely shifting from a deep, opulent midnight blue to a brighter shade of aquamarine, the vaguest suspicion of pink and gold lingering along the rugged skyline of the surrounding hills. A sudden biting breeze rushed through the motionless trees, rustling foliage and moaning softly as it hurled itself against the castle walls. The impression of gold behind the jagged hills was starting to seep into the ever-paler aquamarine sky. Dawn stirred, glowed contentedly and sighed.

The dark blue curtains in Iris's room rippled as daybreak's chilly breeze stole in through the window left ajar to allow Maeve in upon her return. Deep red embers, still glowing brightly in the fireplace, crackled softly and disintegrated even further, parts of them crumbling gently into grey ash. On the plump blue rug in front of the fire, Hecate stretched languidly, got to her feet, made a full revolution around herself, then settled back down, curling up into a tight, grey, fur ball, her paws tucked snugly beneath her. She closed her eyes and promptly went back to sleep.

On the arm of a large leather armchair in front of the fireplace, a crow sat perched. It waited patiently while a tiny roll of parchment was tied to its leg. A few moments later, with the small note firmly in place, the crow hopped off the chair and onto the foot of Iris's bed and from there onto the window sill. It slipped noiselessly through the open pane, spread its wings and took to the air, gliding ever upwards on the rising air currents, until it was swallowed up by the lingering darkness of the night before.

Silence.

In the murky half-light, the recesses of the armchair were shrouded in almost complete darkness, the soft glow of the fire's embers incapable of penetrating the shadows cast by the chair's tall, winged back. A minor, slow movement from the depths of the gloom produced a momentary white gleam as a pair of eyes turned to gaze quietly into the fire.

Silence.

Still, tranquil, precious silence; embracing like a warm cloak. If only it could last. A fleeting gleam, again, as the eyes turned slowly to gaze towards the silent bed. If only...

The faintest rustle of cloth came with another imperceptible movement, as pale, long fingers slowly rubbed the black-robed forearm they had been simply gripping, quietly, for the past few minutes and the eyes turned back to the fire.

Silence.

Calmly, soundlessly, a black silhouette rose from the chair, emerging from the surrounding darkness like a shadow rendered solid, for a moment, by some trick of the light. Without a sound it turned and moved towards the door. There it stopped, for a moment, as if hesitating, then it bowed its head in what could only have been resignation and the door swung silently open to allow it out into the dimly lit corridor, just as silently swinging shut again behind it.

Curled up, above the covers, on the bed, her hair and robes spread out around her like the waters of a black sea, Iris slowly, deliberately, opened her eyes and stared at the empty, dark outline of the door.

Silence.

Review

(Chapter End)