The Ties That Bind

The Ties That Bind

Part 1, The First Rise

By Laura ([email protected])

Chapter 16: Return to Hogwarts Prison

Characters:

Celerina McPherson (mc): Another old friend of Gary's. She is living on her inheritance.

Francis Torys (mc): The current professor of Divination. A young black woman about the age of thirty, she keeps to herself at school. She comes from a long line of Seers, but she is not the fruit Trelawny is.

Greg Longbottom (mc): Frank and Brice's little brother; he's a First Year.

Henry Kurchiff (mc): An old friend of Gary's. He is currently an Auror for the Ministry of Magic, specifically working in the Investigative Division.

Spells:

Multiplication Reverse Spell: a spell of my own creation. When you read it in the story, I think you'll get what it does.

Timeline: Beginning of the Third Year at Hogwarts for Lily, Jessica, James, Severus, etc. It is the beginning of the Second Year for Casey, Jim Jones, Sarah Black, etc.

Quote:

"Enjoy life. There's plenty of time to be dead."

~Hans Christian Andersen (1805 - 1875) ~

Lily smiled at the train. She had missed it fiercely over the summer. Suddenly, she heard a noise followed by a low curse. She looked over at the entrance of Platform 9 ¾ to see Jessica looking back at her brother as he pulled himself up. A man with red hair picked up Casey's luggage as a woman with red hair was admonishing the boy for his language.

When Jessica turned, Lily noticed that she was grinning at her brother, saying something and laughing when he said something probably unpleasant back.

"Hey, Lily," Alice said, startling Lily.

"Hi, Alice. How was your summer?"

"Great. I got a new robe." Suddenly, Alice stopped though. Her eyes were on the siblings walking in front of them now - Jessica and Casey. They had left their redheaded guardians and were heading towards a group of Slytherins.

"I heard they got off," Alice said, a little contempt in her voice.

Lily nodded silently. She still couldn't believe what everyone thought of Jessica. They said so many stupid things about her that Lily knew weren't true. Jessica's father had been the bankroller of this Voldemort, and Jessica was one of his biggest cronies, they claimed. Then they would say that Jessica was being personally tutored by Voldemort - that's why she got the best grades - and that she was his favorite of all the children.

But that wasn't the Jessica Lily knew. Even though Lily had not expected that Jessica would have killed her own father, in a way, it didn't surprise her. But if Jessica knew who Voldemort was, she would say something. From what Lily had heard, Jessica knew James and his father reasonably well. Jessica could have said something already to Mr. Potter. And Jessica would have, if she knew anything.

"I believe that their mother was murdered," Alice added. "But I'm not sure that they are entirely innocent."

"No one's truly innocent if you think about it," Lily responded.

"Truer words have never been spoken."

Both girls turned to see Remus Lupin walk up to them.

"Hey, Remus," Lily greeted. "How was your summer?"

"It was pleasant," he responded diplomatically. "I spent much of it either at the Blacks or at the Potters."

"At the Blacks and the Potters? And it was pleasant?" Lily chuckled. "You're being nice, I'm sure."

"Ha. Ha. Ha," came some deadpan laughter from Lily's left.

"That was so funny, Evans, that I might split my side from laughing," Sirius Black said, walking up with James Potter, who's laughter had been anything but humored.

"I know. I am funny, aren't I?" Lily asked with a grin.

Suddenly, a loud boom sounded next to the Gryffindor's feet. They all jumped and then looked over to see the Slytherins laughing at them, including Jessica. Rodolophus and Bellatrix were particularly humored, giving away that it had been one of those two that had thrown the loud sounding object at them.

"Hey!"

Both groups looked to see Jeff Rin walking up to the Slytherin group, a shiny Head Boy badge on his robes. The Slytherins quieted but didn't look too happy about it. Jeff, however, still headed towards them. He said something, and Jessica went over to him. The two took off a short ways down the platform.

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"Are you alright?"

Jessica nodded.

"You sure?"

She finally looked at Jeff. A smile still on her face but her voice not conveying any happiness, she said, "You've got to be careful of that question, Jeff."

Finally, his frown still on his face, he nodded. "But that's not the real question I had for you. I wanted to talk to you about Quidditch."

Jessica paused before whispering, "It's about my performance during the last half of last season, isn't it? I'm surprised that it's taken you this long to kick me off the team."

Jeff snorted in amusement. "I'm not going to kick you off the team. Yet. I understood the problem during the last half of last season. But I wanted to know if you think you're going to improve."

She nodded. "I will. Now that Azkaban's not over my head, I'll be able to concentrate."

Jeff nodded, satisfied. "Good. Evans is getting better. I don't want to lose that cup again, especially since it's my last year."

She grinned. "No problem, Captain."

He laughed.

Jessica started to turn away from Jeff, Jeff doing likewise the other way, but Jessica stopped herself and stopped Jeff with his name. He turned to her silently.

"How do you like the new Minister?"

"The pompous ass stopped over at my house after he was announced in the papers. He's an idiot. How do you like him?"

Jessica paused at the look on Jeff's face. She realized what he was really asking. She sighed, "I don't know yet." He nodded and took off.

After separating from Jeff, Jessica started back towards the group she had been hanging out with. It was then that she saw that Salazar Snape had approached the group. Where was Severus?

"You looking for Severus?"

Jessica looked over to see Jim Jones by a pole. She nodded. He motioned for her to come closer. Curious but grinning, Jessica moved over to the little blonde Second Year.

"According to my sources, he's incapable of walking. His mum gave him a potion. Having problems reversing it. My mum was called in to assist."

"Mrs. Snape asked for help?" Jessica asked in surprise.

Jim snorted. "No. Mas...Si..." Jim glanced around nervously before settling on, "You-Know-Who did. As you probably know, he took a special interest in Severus when you did."

She sighed. "How bad is he?"

"He'll live, I'm sure. Whether or not he'll live as a walking wizard is the real question."

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James Potter noticed Jessica Ziners walk in, trailing behind her brother and his friends. A quick glance over the Slytherins explained why. Severus Snape was nowhere in sight.

"Snape's missing," James told Sirius.

Sirius laughed. "Good."

"I wonder why," Remus replied, having overheard James.

"Probably off following his psycho mother," Sirius answered.

James chuckled. "Probably."

"Frank," Remus said, ignoring James and catching Frank's attention. "Do you have another brother as a First Year this year?"

Frank laughed. "I will have a brother as a First Year during our entire schooling here."

Remus gave him a surprised look.

"I have seven brothers, Remus," he said with a grin, causing both Alice Bolmond and Kelly Brier to comment on Mrs. Longbottom's personality.

Sure enough, a 'Greg Longbottom' was called and put into Gryffindor.

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"Where are you going?" Narcissa asked.

"I've got to ask Professor Rum a question," Jessica murmured. She tapped on his office door loudly.

"Come in!" he called.

Jessica pushed opened the door, and it shut in Narcissa's face.

"Professor Rum, Sir, I have a problem."

Rum gestured towards the visitor's chair across from his desk before going to the chair behind his desk.

"What is it, Miss Ziners?"

"Severus didn't show up today."

Rum nodded. "Yes, I know. His mother sent a note that he was too sick. He would come when he was well enough."

Jessica nodded nervously towards her hands. "Yeah, it's about that." She looked back up at him. "Another student spoke to me about it. This student has heard another story that has me worried. He says that Severus cannot actually walk. And I know that his mother won't care either way. She won't care if he ever comes back here, Sir. Walking or sick, he isn't ever coming back if Mrs. Snape has anything to say about it, Sir." And briefly and guardedly, she told Rum about what Jim had told her.

Professor Rum nodded thoughtfully. After a minute of silence, he decided. "Don't worry about it, Miss Ziners. I'll take care of it."

Satisfied that if Professor Rum said he would take care of something that he would, Jessica got up and left.

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It was the first weekend of school, early Saturday morning to be precise, when the Potions Master would see to the situation.

"If you had told me last night that, this morning, I would receive an owl from Gary Rum, I would have laughed in your face. But, sure enough, this morning, I wake up and start my breakfast, only to get visited by the ugliest owl known to mankind. What on earth is that thing, Gary? A rat with wings?"

"Hello, Henry," the newcomer was greeted.

"Hello, Celerina," Henry responded before looking around the Potions classroom expectantly. "I imagine Vince is here somewhere as well."

"Right behind you," Vince muttered, looking at a parchment in his hands. "You're right. George McGiven."

Gary, who was leaning against the front of his desk and had been conversing with Celerina before Henry's entrance, nodded. "I didn't really doubt as such," he said, causing three of the former friends to smile. To Celerina and Henry, Gary asked, "Have either of you heard of Rebella Snape?"

Henry nodded. "Oh, yeah. She's been investigated four times by the Ministry, the last two done by myself. She's gotten off each time without a nick or dent to her name or her Potion's license."

Gary sighed. "She has a son that attends here. Both of her sons attend here actually, but it's the older one that concerns me. Another student informed me that Severus' health is in question."

"Can we trust this student?" Celerina asked.

"Yeah, the student could be trying to set a trap. I can see Snape wanting to set you up," Henry added.

"The student was Jessica Ziners," Vince responded before Gary had a chance to.

"That kid that was put on trial for murder this summer?" Henry asked in surprise.

"How does she know that this Snape child is in trouble?" Celerina inquired calmly.

"She has a source," Vince replied.

"What kind of child has sources?" Henry asked incredulously.

"Think Gary Rum at 12," Vince said with a grin.

Gary fairly rolled his eyes. "Now that we have that over with, we need to help this boy. I believe that his mother tries her new potions on him, but I have no evidence and Severus refuses to speak on that matter.

"According to Miss Ziners' source, Severus' legs have been rendered immobile for a number of days now. Another master of Potions was called in apparently and neither has been able to reverse the effects of the potion.

"I had Vince check on Rebella Snape's Apprenticeship Papers. Her Master was George McGiven."

"That putz that was always striving for your place with Allan?" Henry spoke of Allan Grindelwald. McGiven had always tried to outdo Gary, but, though gifted, Gary could out-do the man in his sleep.

"Yes, that's the fellow. I know his work well, so I will know Rebella's reasonably well also.

"We need to go to Snape's to take care of Severus, because I feel that Rebella won't care whether or not her son lives, let alone whether or not he ever walks again."

No one pointed out that Gary actually cared. They were honored he called on them for help, so honored that they weren't about to spoil it.

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Henry Kurchiff was the youngest in the group that arrived at the Snape's home an hour later. At 5'5", he was also the shortest. With his brown hair now streaked with gray, soft brown eyes, and the bearing of an heir - which he was - Henry was an attractive man. However, like his friends, he wasn't married and any attempts at a walk down the aisle had failed miserably. Currently, Henry worked as an Auror in the Investigation Division at the Ministry of Magic.

Celerina McPherson was a Countess and an heiress. She wasn't beautiful but rather had a classic look, with an elegant long face, long black hair, and equally dark eyes. Though she lived off her inheritance and held no day-to-day job, she patrolled the upper crust of magic society better than an Auror. Being soft-spoken and close to no one, she was greatly underestimated and thus very valuable as an anonymous source to the Aurors, known to no one by name as the source they valued so and only assumed to be such by the three with her at the moment.

Vince, Henry, Celerina, and Gary were, on the surface, an unlikely group of allies this day, but, long ago, they had been bonded by an unlikely event - unlikely in both the action and that it was they who had made the action. They had all turned against their families and said, 'No.' They had turned against Allan Grindelwald that day, signing their death warrants, as Gary had once said. They had survived, but it was up for debate if it had been all for the better.

The significance of today was lost to none of them. They had all heard the name Voldemort - both professionally and personally - and his actions were becoming familiar, eerily so, to all of them. Knowing of the suspected connection of Voldemort to this Ziners girl and then adding her worry over the Snape boy, they were able to do the math.

Gary looked at Vince as the boy unconsciously rubbed at his back, and Gary prayed. He prayed that, today, they were saving a kindred spirit rather than a lost one.

Gary lifted the raven shaped knocker, hearing it sound as he dropped it. Only he and Vince stood at the doorway. Henry and Celerina stood a distance away, visible and watching. Gary wanted Rebella to know they were there. And that they were ready.

A house elf opened the door but did not admit them to the house. Interested and amused, Gary said, "I would like to see the lady of the house, Rebella Snape."

"Do you has an appointment, Sir?" the house elf asked in a dull voice.

A dozen answers to that question zoomed through Gary's brain but deciding to take a chance on the fact that house elves of the old aristocratic families gossiped, Gary replied, "No, but I'm sure your Mistress will not want to miss me. I am Gary Rum."

And, like a charm, the eyes of the house elf lit up in startlement. Rebella Snape walked up to the door then, and, although he hadn't been expecting it, it didn't altogether surprise Gary.

"Well, Professor Rum, this is a pleasant surprise." The ugly woman gave what he guessed to be a smile.

"Let's not even start the nonsensical chit-chat, Mrs. Snape. I'm here for Severus."

She looked hesitant, causing both Gary and Vince to grip their wands tighter, making the wooden objects more visible than they had been. Knowing that it was unintelligent to go against two very able-bodied wizards, Rebella backed off. "I don't understand why he did what he did. He might have been trying to kill himself."

Gary took no notice of Vince's noise of disbelief and followed Rebella up a wide staircase, ignoring the dull-lighted scenery of the foyer. Vince followed a step behind. They had to travel two more staircases before going down a hall to a dark, out of the way room. She didn't bother to knock, just slammed the door open.

"Severus!" she yelled in a shrill voice.

The lump in the bed moved but didn't reveal itself. Gary turned to glance at Vince only to see him just enter the room. He watched him slip a note into one of his robe pockets. The action was so obvious that Gary knew it was for his benefit. The old friends made eye contact.

"Severus," Rebella sighed angrily and impatiently, causing Gary to turn back to her. She threw the covers back to reveal a black pajama covered lump in the middle of the bed. The lump grunted.

As Gary moved toward the bed, he spoke to Rebella again. "What did he swallow?" He would allow her fabrication for the time being.

At his voice, Severus stirred but didn't reveal his face.

"I don't know," she said.

Gary turned a glare on her. She was set stubbornly by her story, and Gary was just about to argue when he saw Vince shake his head. He patted the pocket he had slipped the note in.

Silently, Gary turned back to the bed. Without thought, he reached over and picked up Severus. Now, a Potions Master has a strong upper body - built up from years of stirring and lifting - but he still expected to stagger from the weight of a growing boy.

Gary did indeed stagger but not from the weight. He staggered from the lack of it. Severus couldn't weigh more than 38 kilograms.

The boy stirred but did not awake. Gary turned and left. When Gary and Vince were away from the house, Vince whispered:

"A house elf slipped me a list of the ingredients. The elf said that 'Master Severus' asked her to steal it for him this morning, saying that he was going to attempt to heal himself. When she got back, the boy was unconscious. I got the impression that she didn't think that that was a coincidence.

"When she heard that it was you here for her 'Master', she knew that you would help him and thought that this list could help you."

Gary thought about that, ignoring the looks of surprise from Celerina and Henry when they saw him carrying the boy.

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Severus' head hurt. His first thought beyond the pain was that he had to be in Hell because there would be no pain in Heaven.

His suspicion that he was in Hell was confirmed in the next minute when he finally managed to open his eyes and focus on something. Professor Rum stood above him. He wondered what had killed the professor.

"Severus," Rum said quietly.

"What?" Severus replied his throat sore.

"I'll get him some water," said another voice, this one a female.

Noticing Severus' eyes moving around, Rum said, "You're in a Bed & Breakfast a few miles from your home. It's the first Saturday after the start of the school year."

"I'm not in Hell?"

Severus heard a snort and tried to unsuccessfully find the source.

"No, my boy, you are in Hell, but if you're wondering if you're dead, you are not."

"Severus," this voice was Rum's, "the voice you heard before me was that of Henry, an old mate of mine. The woman getting you water is Celerina, another old mate, along with Vince, who is over in the corner and remaining unusually silent."

"I'm not dead?" Severus asked again, his eyes catching a spot on the ceiling as he felt his voice catch.

His tone carrying his normal detached sternness, Gary replied, "You are alive, Severus. Very alive. And if I'm as good at potions as I think I am, you will walk again very soon."

This caused Severus' dark eyes to shoot back to Rum's. The older man actually gave Severus a slight smile.

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"Clay McAdamson."

"He was an Unspeakable. Nice fellow. In charge of the Dark Arts Department."

"That's why he was killed," Professor Rum murmured as he continued to mix the potion on the table.

"Knocking off the competition?" Henry asked.

"He is learning from Grindelwald's mistakes," Celerina murmured to her book.

Severus continued to listen to their conversation avidly as Professor Rum mixed another potion for him. Vince, who, Severus had already gleaned, was a lawyer, was currently reading *The Daily Prophet*. Henry, who worked for the Ministry but Severus couldn't figure out how, was playing with various things, alternately charming and transfiguring mundane objects to amuse himself. Celerina, who Severus was under the impression held no job, was reading a novel.

Currently, Vince was telling them about a recent murder he was reading about in the paper.

"Do you think it was this Voldemort character?" Henry asked Gary.

"I think neither this nor that," Gary replied.

"And we shall interpret that as a 'yes', but with an added, 'but I'm going to try my damnedest to keep out of it,'" Vince replied distractedly.

"We're former Slytherins, Gary," Celerina murmured. "If we combined both my and Henry's inheritance, we couldn't buy our way out of any future war with a Voldemort or anybody. Slytherins, per supposed custom, specialize in two things."

"Darks Arts and determination," Vince and Henry said in unison, causing Severus to smile.

Gary, on the other hand, was ignoring them in favor of his potion.

Moving back to the story in the paper, Henry asked Vince, "Does it say how he died?"

Vince glanced back at the article to remind himself. "Preliminary guess is that he was poisoned."

Severus swallowed nervously then. He knew the hit had been ordered by his master, but now he knew who had done the deed - his mother. She was the only master or mistress of Potions in Lord Voldemort's arsenal who could pull off an assassination by potions on an Unspeakable, especially one who specialized in Dark Arts.

Suddenly, Severus felt eyes on him. Glancing past his feet and across the room, he saw Vince looking over the top of the paper at him. He was struck with the similarity of Vince's gaze to Casey's at that moment, the type of gaze that made you feel like they saw something inside of you that only you yourself was privy to.

"Are you alright, Severus?" Vince asked, interrupting Celerina and Henry's starting argument.

Severus nodded silently.

Vince glanced at the paper and the story again, then glanced at the potion ingredients by Gary, then to Severus once more, and, for one terrified moment, Severus thought that Vince had figured it out - Rebella Snape was a murderer, she had murdered that Unspeakable, and that Severus had kept quiet on the matter - a treason making him as guilty of the murder as his mother.

But just as Vince opened his mouth, Professor Rum spoke. "Vince, keep your nose to that side of the room, where it belongs."

Severus looked at Rum, only to see that the Potions Master's eyes had never left his work. One glance back at Vince and then at Henry and Celerina told him that the comment of Rum's referred to a past conversation that only Rum and Vince knew.

"Care to share?" Henry, who was now more interested in Vince and Gary than his mundane objects, asked.

Without taking his eyes off Gary, Vince shook his head. "No."

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Severus awoke slowly. Judging by the candle, he had been asleep awhile.

The room was mostly dark and empty except for him and another. Silent as a mouse, Severus looked beyond the candle to Professor Rum. He was still hunched over the desk, working on a potion. Currently, he was cutting up some root. Severus admired the precise work of it. Dark and defensive arts were similar in that respect. Any able-bodied witch or wizard could do a decent charm or transfiguration with some time and ease, but it took a certain smooth artist to be able to do dark or defensive magic - you had to do a certain spell at a certain time - no thought, no hesitancy. But it wasn't just that. You had to use more than just the magic. There was timing, order, intensity, consistency, movement... It was a beauty only matched in potions. Severus understood deeply what had drawn Rum to both.

He watched Rum slide the root into a flask. The flask was already carrying a liquid unknown to Severus. Putting it near the candlelight to watch the root mix with the liquid, Severus watched it as well, seeing it mix and turn to a steam. Severus knew that Professor Rum couldn't see him, so he was able to watch the potion without fear of discovery.

Without warning, Rum threw the potion. Weighted by the now heavy substance in the bottle, the flask fell to the floor and, with a loud crash, shattered, the liquid slowly following the paths of its broken container across the floor. Severus' eyes flew to Professor Rum to see him clutching the offending arm. It was moving, as though trying to get away. His shoulder was jerking violently in the struggle.

"What's wrong?"

It was Vince standing in the door adjoining two rooms. He looked to have been asleep.

"Nothing!" Professor Rum yelled. "Go away!"

The tone was pained but more threatening than Severus had ever heard from the professor. It effectively threw Vince from the room and halted any help Severus could have done. In terror, Severus watched and waited.

Groaning in terrible pain, Rum leaned forward and locked his jerking arm between his thighs and chest. Once his other arm was free, he reached down and parted the lower part of his robes. There he managed to reach up part way and pull out a metal flask. He popped the top off and drunk deep and long. When he was done, he dropped the metal flask, and it tumbled to his feet with a clank as he gasped. It was another minute before the shaking in his arm stopped and yet another half a minute before Rum started to release it from the vice of his body. Tentatively, he tested it, alternating rubbing and flexing it.

When he seemed satisfied, Rum pulled his wand and cleaned up the potion on the floor. Pocketing his wand again, he leaned forward and rubbed his face with hands.

Severus knew better than to speak at this moment, knowing that Professor Rum would not like it if he realized Severus had witnessed his agony. As Severus pretended to grumble and turn over in his sleep, he thought about the agony one received when they turned against who they were.

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Later the next day, Severus was able to walk across the room, people he met only the day before cheering him on, causing his pale cheeks to turn a bright, cherry red, as Celerina had pointed out, making the shade deepen.

That night, the group moved to Hogwarts. It was very late at night, but they were greeted by Dumbledore, Dumbledore's amusement, and Dumbledore's concern.

Severus was quickly taken under Madam Pomfrey's care, who had been waiting up for him, unlike another who had evidently been expecting him but lost the battle for wakefulness hours ago. Jessica Ziners lay curled up in a chair next to the bed that had been prepared for Severus. He sincerely doubted that if Hogwarts were to fall on her head that she would have awoken.

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"Your concern astounds even me, Gary."

Henry, Celerina, and Vince exchanged a glance as Albus Dumbledore gave voice to the earlier thoughts none had dared to speak.

"Well, it's astonishment wasted for I was not out to amaze. Severus can drink potions into oblivion for all I care. I will not let George McGiven one up me." And with that declaration, Gary left.

"Do we suspect Mr. Snape will return to normal?" Albus asked the three remaining of the group.

"Gary deemed him alright," Celerina replied. "Except probably some extended tenderness, he'll walk and run again."

"Good, good," Albus nodded.

Henry sighed. "I guess our work here is done." Looking at Celerina and Vince, he asked, "Want to catch a drink at the Three Broomsticks before we part our ways once more?"

Both nodded but Albus stopped them with a hand on Vince's arm. "Vince, may I speak with you a moment in private?"

Vince nodded at Albus before glancing at his former friends, "Go ahead. I'll catch up."

They looked uncertain but left. Vince turned to the headmaster. "Yes, Albus?" he asked when they were alone.

"It is one thing for Gary to show concern--"

Vince interrupted him, "But this was an entire other thing."

Albus nodded.

Glancing up and down the empty hall before rubbing the back of his neck, Vince hesitated a good minute before saying, "To be honest with you, Albus, I was confused at first as well. All of us were. Celerina and Henry still are, but I don't plan on shining the light for them."

"But you plan on 'shining the light' for me?" Albus guessed.

Letting go of the back of his neck and looking up, Vince gave a slight nod and half grin. "Yes, because, for the first time that I can remember, I actually believe this involves you more than them." Albus returned a small smile as the men shared a silent memory of past arguments on this topic.

"At first," Vince said, moving on, "I didn't understand, but then I understood who Severus was in the grand scheme of it all. In a way, Gary does cares about Severus, but what drove him to not only take it upon himself but upon old allies was exactly who this boy was. I believe that Severus' mother is somehow connected to this Voldemort, and that Gary's actions, in rescuing the boy and in bringing exactly whom he brought, he was sending a message to this Voldemort.

"Gary claims to not want be involved in things, but I've seen his stockpile, Albus, as I'm sure so have you. I don't think Voldemort just kind of reminds Gary of Grindelwald. Knowing that Gary sees and hears more than most and then seeing his stockpile of potions, I think Gary not only is preparing for another Grindelwald, I think he's preparing for someone worse, someone who has learned from Grindelwald's mistakes.

"By showing up on the Snape's front steps, he notified this Voldemort that Gary Rum is not dead, he's ready for battle, and that he's at Hogwarts."

Vince fell to a silence, but Albus left it to quiet, seeing that his old acquaintance was battling with his want to reveal something. Finally, he spoke. "Albus, if this Voldemort is such a threat that Gary is taking him this seriously, and if I'm right in thinking that Voldemort is specifically studying and learning from Grindelwald's mistakes, he will waste as little time as possible to go after one person...and the Minister of Magic is small beans compared to you, Albus."

Albus merely nodded.

Nervously, Vince rubbed the back of his neck again. "If I know my bad guys as well as I think I do, he'll want to make your murder as spectacular as possible, maybe making it his coming out party, so to speak."

Vince appeared confused when Albus smiled. The Headmaster explained with a comment, "I would be most appreciative if you would not talk about my death as if it was an immediate absolute certainty."

Vince frowned.

"Honestly, Vince, I will not die before or after I am meant to. I can promise you, though, that I will try my best not to let this Voldemort kill me, and, if you allow me some immodesty, my best is quite good."

The younger wizard smiled for a fraction of a second before saying gently, "You must remember something, Albus. You are the Headmaster of a school. You have over two hundred very valuable, defenseless hostages."

"There was always over two hundred very valuable, defenseless hostages as an Auror, Vince," Albus reminded him.

Vince's look was grim. "But you were never living with two hundred very valuable, defenseless hostages until the end. Now, that's how the game begins."

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"How is the investigation going on Minister Rin's assassination?" Ignatius Malfoy asked.

Marcus looked over at Malfoy with a sigh. Tomorrow was the new Minister's first day, and Marcus couldn't believe that he was actually looking forward to Landon Scooner taking office. For the past three days, Malfoy had been holding little meetings with every department, including and especially with Magical Law Enforcement. Marcus suspected that it was to wheedle as much information as possible out of everybody before he had to step down - which is when the wheedling would be overtly noticeable.

But this was hardly Malfoy's first wheedle on this topic. He had been pumping Marcus for information since the beginning of his Ministership. Marcus gave him the same response he had been giving since the beginning.

"It's progressing."

"Mr. Potter," Ignatius started out, making everyone at the table struggle not to roll their eyes, "what are we going to tell the people?"

"Fine," Marcus said, changing his answer for the first time since their little dance had began months ago on this topic. Everyone looked at Marcus in surprise. "You may tell them this - it was Voldemort."

He barely restrained laughter at Malfoy's hard look. Finally, the man spoke, his voice low and threatening, "How many times will I have to tell you -Voldemort is not a threat."

Marcus started to respond, but Barty Crouch's hand stopped him. Everyone turned in rapt fascination to Crouch.

"Minister," Crouch started out, his voice steady and calm, "the whole department is clear on your feelings of this so-called man Voldemort. I, myself, am unsure of how I stand on his existence or not, and, if he does indeed exist, I question his threat to our security. However, Marcus Potter is one of my best Aurors, not only in the field but also in investigation. If he believes that this Voldemort does indeed exist and that he maintains a serious threat, a threat enough to devote almost his entire time to stop, then I will believe in Marcus' intelligence and trust him."

"You trust him to use not only himself but your best Auror, Alastor Moody," Malfoy said, his voice barely constrained in its contempt.

Crouch nodded. "Both of them believe in what they're doing. I would trust no other Aurors to run astray as they are, but I trust in their judgment."

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"Run astray?!"

"Britt, calm down," Marcus, smiling, told his wife.

"If I could, I would give that idiot a piece of my mind," she fumed.

"He was defending us," he laughed.

"But...but 'run astray'?? Couldn't he have come up with something better?"

"I'm perfectly content with that," Alastor commented from his chair near the corner. Currently, the Auror was leaning back, his feet propped on Marcus' desk, reading *The Daily Prophet*. "I've been running astray for years."

"But now that you're working with Marcus on Voldemort, you're on course," Brittany Potter threw back at him.

Just as Alastor peered over the paper at her and prepared a retort, Marcus hastily spoke. "Brittany, did you talk to Gina Longbottom about McAdamson?"

Brittany gave him a dirty look. "I hate you for ordering me to talk to that woman."

Alastor looked amused. "Same old Gina, I take it?"

Marcus grinned at him before turning back to his wife. "I'm sorry, but you need to learn to talk to her. She's the Auror's best connection to the Unspeakable Department, which, as you know, is otherwise extremely secretive, more so than we are."

Brittany gave him a perturbed look but let it pass because Marcus was technically her boss. "She has a suspicion as to who poisoned McAdamson."

Alastor suddenly looked more interested in Brittany than in his paper or his previous anger at Britt.

"Who?" he growled.

"Now, she says it's a suspicion with no merit other than that she knows of her work and that more of it is appearing on the street lately and for nefarious purposes most likely, considering her specialties."

"Who is it?" Alastor demanded again.

"Rebella Snape."

"Michael Snape's wife?" This time, it was Marcus.

Brittany nodded.

Marcus groaned and leaned back, rubbing his face as he did so. "We don't need another scandal at the Ministry."

"If it's helpful," Brittany said, "Michael's marriage to Rebella was actually arranged. This incident would create no love loss, as there was no love to begin with. Michael only stays because of their two sons."

"Doesn't matter," Marcus said on a sigh. "We are already having to answer for someone getting far enough into the Ministry to kill Adam and getting back out undetected. Now we might have to deal with the wife of the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation being a bad seed herself."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I don't think we should arrest her."

Both men looked at Brittany in confused curiosity.

She shrugged. "Gina also says if there's a real bad guy out there in this Voldemort, Rebella Snape murdered McAdamson on this Voldemort's orders. Now we have a known line, possibly a direct known line, to this Voldemort. Personally, I don't want to destroy it now that we've found it."

There was a moment of silence before Alastor said, "She does have a point, Potter."

Marcus agreed. "A good point. Britt, you've just made yourself a new assignment."

Brittany groaned mockingly, causing her husband to smile fondly at her.

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"Is something wrong?" Severus asked Casey. The two boys had met up after Severus had Charms and Casey had Transfiguration. Jessica had to run up to the Owlery to send off a letter, so the boys were walking to lunch together. Currently, they were entering the Entrance Hall, but Casey kept glancing behind them.

"I think someone's following us," he murmured. And before Severus had a chance to find the culprit, it found him. Suddenly, something small with many legs was crawling inside his robes, down his back. He grabbed at his back, very aware of the laughter starting around him.

"Wand," Casey said quickly. Severus grabbed it and did the Multiplication Reverse Spell, not realizing that Casey had meant just to get rid of the spider. After muttering the curse, the two culprits - Sirius Black and James Potter - started to crazily grab at the multiple spiders running under their robes.

"Severus Snape!"

Snape cringed at the sound of McGonagall's voice. She got rid of the spiders on the other boys before ordering Snape to follow her.

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"At least it's only one detention," Jessica said.

He didn't even look up from his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.

"I'm just glad it wasn't me. I don't care for spiders," Jessica shivered. "Snakes either." She shivered again.

Severus turned a page.

She sighed. Turning back to her homework, she sighed again. "I hate Divination," she murmured.

"I agree," he replied, causing Jessica to struggle to hide her grin that he actually spoke again. "If one could actually predict future events," he continued, unconsciously rubbing his formerly injured ear, "one's life would be a lot less damaging."

"The only thing Divination is right about, I think, are Seers," Jessica added.

"And that may be only coincidence and conjecture when you get down to it."

"But there is no evidence either way. It may be true. It may not be."

Severus looked up, into Jessica's eyes.

She looked back down at her Divination homework.

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The next night, at the Potter home, Marcus and Brittany entertained an old friend of Marcus's. Stephen Medley wanted to get away from the school one night and had complained such to Marcus in his last letter, so Marcus invited the young man to dinner.

"You should take over my job then, Marcus," Stephen was saying. "I wouldn't mind becoming Head of Major Cases for a few weeks."

Marcus laughed. "You speak exactly like someone who's never been the Head of Major Cases!"

"Seriously, Stephen," Brittany said with a grin, "a mere two seconds in the job, or even near the job, would give you a whole new appreciation for what you do at Hogwarts."

Stephen grinned. "You speak exactly like someone who's never been on the butt end of Casey Ziners' wand."

The three laughed.

"Out of curiosity," Stephen said, changing the topic, "can I ask you a question about this Voldemort?"

Marcus nodded. "You can. Whether I will answer it or not is the question."

The professor laughed. "Well, I will give it a shot. People say that Minister Rin's death was possibly this Voldemort's coming out party, and I've been thinking about that a lot lately. But I'm starting to wonder if it is not. I think that if this Voldemort is as serious as you believe he is...if Minister Rin was his coming out party, why haven't we heard much more from him? I would think a blast would have followed Minister Rin. But it hasn't. So if this was Voldemort, it begs the question - is it wrong to believe that this was Voldemort's coming out party?

"Looking at the unsolved murders in the past few years, I'm beginning to wonder if this hasn't been Voldemort's first murder, assuming that I'm right in believing that Minister Rin was murdered by this Voldemort. So, if I'm right that Rin was not his coming out party, why was Rin murdered? There is the obvious -that he was the Minister of Magic. But, as Aurors, we know that the real good bad guys know to not take that big of risk unless the purpose far outweighs the risk. So what was the purpose if not a coming out party?

"And, if this wasn't Voldemort, why haven't we heard more from Rin's murderer?

"This has led me to wonder if that you are indeed right. This Voldemort has been here for a while, amassing contacts, resources, and followers, coming in a tidal wave that was so far away at first that we wondered if it would even reach us. After awhile, we forgot to worry about it. Only the far-sighted can see that it's still coming and it's amassing strength and power to wipe those in its path off of the map entirely. But because it's still so far away and so massive that it's blocked our view so completely and for so long we've forgotten what use to be there, we can't see it anymore, we don't worry about it anymore..." Stephen shook his head. "Minister Rin's murder wasn't a coming out party, was it? It was something so different that we have no idea what it was really trying to accomplish."

After a lengthy pause, Marcus replied quietly, "I believe that you are quite right, Stephen, except for one thing. I know nearly precisely what Rin's death was trying to accomplish."

Stephen only cocked his head in question.

"The obvious - to get Malfoy into office to snoop on our defensives. Then there was the second objective. I actually didn't realize it until you were talking just now."

Marcus paused a second, during which Brittany set a hand on his arm. "What is it?" she asked softly.

"I believe that it was a message to me. He had to have been in the front office when I left Rin's office...staring at me...knowing I was there, I would be near when he would do it. I just remembered something Malfoy said right after Jeffery Ziners was murdered - that he protected me during the initial investigation of Adam's death. And he had. But why? Voldemort ordered him not to give me a hard time. Voldemort wanted me to know that he was there, that he killed Rin, and that he did it right under my nose. He wants to fight me - not put me away. He is a tidal wave, and I can see him. That challenges him, but he's enjoying it, and he wants me to know that I am sport to him.

"I am starting to wonder if the murder of our former minister was very much for my benefit." Marcus was silent a moment, a long moment, before he spoke again. "You're right, Stephen. Voldemort is a tidal wave, and he doesn't want to surprise us when he gets here. He wants us to know he's coming, and he's getting frustrated that no one's taking him seriously. He knew I would believe it was him. So he made sport of me doing it under my nose, but he added the mark of the skull and snake this time because he wants more people to realize he's coming. Slowly but surely, stronger than any before him. *That* was why Minister Rin was the first murder he marked; *that's* why the Minister of Magic was chosen. Rather than purely to gain power, he wanted to prove he already had it." Marcus paused a moment before adding thoughtfully, "There will be more murders until he officially announces himself."

"The kind of wizard that can murder the minister as though it were no big deal and not use it as a coming out party," Stephen added with a note of despair and a shake of his head.

"But it begs the biggest question of all," Marcus said.

It was Stephen who supplied the question. "What kind of coming out party could surpass the murder of the Minister of Magic under the nose of the Head of Major Cases and the very man investigating him?"

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"These cases are in excellent order."

Riley looked up at the back of Elizabeth Murphy's blonde head. She was sitting in Richie Thender's desk, reading over some case files. Drea was the only Dark Operator in the office today. When she looked up to comment, Riley shushed her.

"Thank you," he said to Murphy, continuing to sort through the parchments on his desk.

Murphy never glanced behind herself and started making more notes.

Mark walked in then, in Muggle clothes - blue jeans and a black Led Zepplin t-shirt. Everyone in the office gave him a curious look.

Mark grinned. "I was in a Muggle bar, sorry."

"A Muggle bar? What ever for?" Murphy asked.

He was silent for half a second before he responded, "Sorry, Prosecutor Murphy. You have access to past cases, not our current cases."

"Why do you guys call me Prosecutor Murphy?" Murphy finally turned her green eyes to Riley. Some part of Riley had noted the color of her eyes and the fact that they were actually quite beautiful, but the part of Riley that had kept him alive this long told that other part to shut up and get back to work.

"Would you rather we call you the names that we called you before Prosecutor Murphy?" Riley asked, his eyes back on one of the parchments on his desk. "Drea," he picked up the paper, "this is one of your cases." He handed her the parchment.

"One of her cases?" Murphy asked, apparently letting Riley's question roll off her back. "I thought that Captain Montgomery was the head of all the cases."

"Technically," Riley replied, "but he gives the lead and organization to some of the other members, usually the more senior ones, on some of the more minor cases, though Danny maintains seniority on all of the cases."

"Can anyone outrank him on a decision?" Elizabeth asked.

"If someone feels that he is doing something wrong, they can inform the Supervisory Squad, who will call a meeting to discuss the case in question. The one who talked will never be known to anyone but the person on the Supervisory Squad they talked to. However, there doesn't necessarily need to be someone on the team to ask for a meeting, or someone at all."

Murphy nodded and turned back to her notes.

"What are you doing here today, Mark?" Riley asked, looking over at him.

"Actually I came today because I have to talk with Dan..." Mark glanced over at Murphy cautiously before amending, "...because I have to talk with Captain Montgomery."

Riley nodded back at his papers. "He's home today, opening up Jeffery Ziners' study. Miss Dumbledore went over there about five minutes ago for her lunch break. She's going to be there with him when he opens it."

"Well, Miss Dumbledore should probably hear this too," Mark said before leaving.

"Why didn't he inform his Commander of his news?" Murphy asked, her back still to Riley.

Glancing at her back, Riley said, "Because you're here, Prosecutor Murphy. He won't speak a word in front of you."

Murphy didn't respond.

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"Sir?"

Daniel turned to the house elf. "Yes, Malf?"

"There is a man here for you, Sir, a Mark Halmer. He says it be rather important, Sir, and that it requires both yours and Miss Dumbledore's presences," Malf said slowly.

"Send him in, to the library," Daniel instructed.

When the house elf walked away, Daniel cast one last look to the door of Jeffery's study.

"We could make him wait," Andorra supplied.

Daniel shook his head. "No, it's important."

Mark was already seated in the library when they arrived, comfortable with the room. Daniel had been using the library as a nightly meeting room for the Dark Operators so he didn't need to go to the Department itself and leave the kids alone, not that he was much with them in the large house, but the proximity made him feel better.

"Were you at the Muggle bar in New York City this morning?" Daniel asked, noticing Mark's attire.

He nodded, propping his feet on a nearby coffee table. "Yeah, and I heard some interesting things."

Daniel grinned, sitting on the couch. Andorra sat down on the chair next to the couch.

"The U.S. might be rid of Voldemort overall. They were speaking of the loss of his two biggest big-wigs, one of which had a connection to the Ministry, the other of which gave him money and other access to the U.S."

"Jonathon and Jeffery," Daniel supplied.

Mark nodded. "That's what it sounded like. But with good news comes bad news." Daniel's smile became a frown. "Voldemort's not completely out of the U.S. They hinted that he had his claws still here, but he won't focus on it in his overall attack, which will be in England. They said that that was where his bigger prizes were, and when he had them, he would head over to the U.S., then country after country, they suspected."

"He's gone, but we shouldn't forget him here at the Department," Andorra supplied.

Mark nodded.

"And his presence here is in the form of someone at the Department is my guess," Daniel said with a sigh.

There was a pause before Andorra asked, "Do you think it could be Elizabeth Murphy?"

Daniel shook his head. "No, I don't. Annoying though she is, she's here only for the reason Melovic has her here. No, Voldemort would have put this claw in during Jonathon and Jeffery's reign so as not to have that many questions and better access to the employees of the Department."

"So it could be anyone," Andorra said.

"It always can be anyone," Mark replied. "We just have to pick a group to trust and work on it from there."

"That's why I have the Dark Operators," Daniel said, giving Andorra a half smile.

"And you can always trust a Dark Operator," Mark said with a laugh.

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"Albus Dumbledore will be his greatest achievement," Ignatius said with a grin.

*Idiot*, Tom thought to himself before announcing his presence. As expected, they bowed and welcomed him with open arms. Tom wondered how many truly loved him and how many truly loved the power he promised. But, in the end, was there really a difference, he wondered. A thought to ponder later.

"Albus Dumbledore," Tom told Ignatius before he started their meeting, "will not be a very great achievement. He will be an amusing one, like our friend Marcus Potter." There were some chuckles. Tom sneered. "But, when I achieve Dumbledore, I will achieve another thing, a great thing."

"What is that, Master?" Randolph Lestrange asked.

Tom smiled. "A beautiful thing," he whispered, his voice caressing the words reverently. "It will be Hogwarts, which shall make for an excellent base of operations."

Some of the smiles were surprised but most had the grace not to be.

Tom chuckled. "But that won't be for some time now, for, as they say, good things only come to those who wait, plan, and scheme the murder of their enemies first. Speaking of which, we have some business to attend to, do we not?"

Tom took close note of those who looked excited at the prospect, knowing that, in the end, those would be his best and most fervent supporters.

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Stephen Medley nearly ran into Francis Torys on his way out of the teacher's lounge.

"You missed the teacher's meeting," Stephen informed her.

She gave a dramatic sigh. "Drat."

Stephen smiled. "Don't worry. It wasn't all that exciting."

"Get out of my way," Gary Rum growled, pushing at Stephen a bit. Stephen got out of the way, giving Gary a glare at his back. Like usual, Professor Torys gave him a slight smile. Stephen looked back at her. Torys was a young black woman about the age of thirty, and she usually kept to herself. She was very serious about her subject; coming from a long line of Seers, no one was surprised. Whether or not you believed in Divination, you knew that claimed Seers were very serious about their subject and took it as a personal insult if you said her subject was anything other than serious. But she needn't tell Stephen anything twice about Divination. He was a personal believer, having been saved a few times himself by the use of Divination.

"You should not be angry with him," Torys said.

"I'm not angry. Just irritated."

She didn't reply, just merely grinned back at the dungeon doors, where Rum had disappeared.

Stephen finally bit. "Why do you like him so? He's not any nicer to you than he is to anyone else."

She turned back to him like she hadn't understood what he had said, but after half a second, she replied, "Like myself, Professor Rum comes from a long line of Seers."

Stephen's jaw dropped. "Rum's a Seer?"

Torys nodded. "It was he that made the prophecy that foretold the end of Grindelwald, exactly as it happened, and he made the prophecy when he was only 17-years old. There is suspicion that he made another prophecy, earlier on, that no one but he and only a few others know about. But Professor Rum denies it."

Stephen could not have been more surprised. Rum was a Seer? He had made the prophecy that had spoke of many attempts of killing Grindelwald, including an attempt made by a great vengeful enemy, but all would fail until finally the eldest son of a large family, a great Auror of great, silent strength, faced Grindelwald head-on in one great, final battle. Rum himself had been the great vengeful enemy, and Professor Dumbledore, the eldest of 17 children, had faced Grindelwald head-on in one great battle that had ended Grindelwald's reign of terror.

And there was another prophecy out there that Rum refused to speak on?

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"She's pretty."

Riley Haderson glared at Marcus Potter. Both Marcus and Daniel started laughing at the glare.

"Well, she is," Daniel said.

"She's a real pain in the ass," Riley replied. "The Supervisory Squad asks us less questions."

"That's their purpose," Daniel said. "To keep us in line but to keep out of our business. Her job is to try to push us to the line and to stick her nose in our business."

"And here I go again at that mission, Captain Montgomery," Elizabeth Murphy said, walking up and surprising the three. "Mr. Potter, why are you here?"

Riley went to say something but stopped when Daniel held up a hand. Marcus grinned. "I am here because I am here. You only have access to the American Camp, Miss Murphy. Not the British Camp."

She held up her nose slightly, causing Marcus to have an obvious fight to keep from laughing. "From my time here," she said, "I have heard that you and Captain Montgomery are good friends. From Miss Dumbledore, I have found that you have knowledge of this merry band of misfits I am here for. And from my own encounter with a certain lawyer, I have guessed that you have already sent someone to guess my conclusion before I even reach it.

"After Secretary Ziners was arrested and after the investigation of Jeffery Ziners' death, we have found the probability that your Volda...Vold..."

When Elizabeth paused in her haughty speech uncertainly, there came a barely suppressed snort of laughter from Riley and two barely suppressed grins from Daniel and Marcus.

"Voldemort, Miss Murphy," Marcus supplied, his voice deadpan.

"Voldemort," she repeated, glaring at Riley, before continuing strongly to Marcus. "That your Voldemort fellow has been infiltrating in the U.S. You are one of the most major connections we have with the Ministry of Magic, Mr. Potter."

"So, from your speech, am I to understand that I am a spy for Voldemort?"

Elizabeth glared at both Daniel and Riley as the laughter finally broke through.

"Well," Elizabeth said, turning back to Marcus. "I am not expecting you to tell me the truth either way, but I have full authority to investigate every aspect of..." she nodded towards Daniel and Riley. "And, it seems, that may include you."

Marcus grinned. "You are very intelligent, Miss Murphy, but you would make one very atrocious Auror. You would have just signed your death warrant, had what you just said been true. It is not. Ask Vince McCallen, Secretary Melovic's own personal spotter of all things evil."

Daniel rolled his eyes, causing Marcus to grin wider.

Elizabeth gritted her teeth and walked away.

"See," Riley said before she was out of hearing range. "She's annoying."

She spun and gave him a perturbed look. And Riley did the most childish thing he had ever done in his life.

He stuck out his tongue at her.

Everyone who happened to witness it burst out laughing in surprise. Elizabeth's jaw dropped. Riley bit his lip, suddenly embarrassed. He turned and walked back to the Dark Operators' office.

Elizabeth walked back to Melovic's office.

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"I don't get it, Severus."

He grabbed the frog brains and showed her how to cut them again. "In angular strips, Jessica. Thin, angular strips."

"But the book says straight strips."

"The book's wrong. This is how my mom does it," Severus murmured quietly. Jessica quit arguing as Severus had figured she would, Jessica knew. She looked at the knife again that she had gotten him for his birthday. She had bought it when she was with Tom in Knockturn Alley, her intention being to give it to Severus but looking at it now, it reminded her of what she had nearly done just before school started. It was nearly a month and a half ago, but it still haunted her at odd times.

"You're not paying attention, Jessica," Severus pointed out.

She grinned. "Caught red-handed."

He pressed the handle of the knife into her palm again. "Now, do it just like I did."

She cut the strips, but her hand wasn't steady. Severus, who was standing right next to her, reached over and enveloped her hand in his, holding her hand steady as she cut. His hand was cold but firm and for some stupid reason, it caused her to smile. She bit her lip to cover it.

"Snivellus and Jessica, sitting in a tree..." Jessica heard across the room. She turned a glare on Sirius Black, but Rum was there.

"Black, pay attention to your own potion."

"Yeah, it needs all the attention and help it can get," Severus added, causing Jessica and the other Slytherins to snicker.

"Mr. Snape," Rum started but stopped suddenly on a gasp. He grabbed his arm as others watched in silent surprise.

Jessica glanced nervously at Severus to see that his eyes were darting. She could practically hear the wheels in his head turning. She turned back to Rum, trying to understand. And suddenly it hit her - his disability. The shaking, it was very painful from what she had overheard. What should she do?

But suddenly Severus took the decision out of her hands. He pushed over his cauldron in the guise of tripping into it. The potion spilled out at an alarming rate, steam started to rise, and the room filled with a nasty burning smell. The incident caused everyone's attention to turn to Severus and the cauldron. What was Severus thinking? Professor Rum needed help!

But Jessica couldn't do anything now. She had to get her bag and herself out of the way and several other Slytherins had to follow suit. By the time everyone was out of the way and Severus was starting to contain his mess, Professor Rum was walking over to clean up the mess with his wand. He looked pale and appeared very slightly on the shaky side, but his shaking had apparently stopped.

As the class made nasty comments to Severus and about Severus, she looked at the top of his head as he stared hard at the potion on the ground as though angry at being clumsy.

And if Jessica hadn't annoyed him with her presence the previous two years, she would have assumed it was clumsiness. But Severus wasn't clumsy.

She smiled.

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Meanwhile, in London, a man looked at his hand again. No matter what he did, the scars still remained. Scars of anger, he had once heard, deep anger, do not heal easily. He had never seen the boy so very angry. Now he realized that he had made the mistake in his positioning of the boy in Jessica's world. Before, he had been a mere tool with no real meaning. Just a tool to control Jessica. Now, he realized that the boy was standing between himself and Jessica.

Unfortunately, he couldn't kill the boy for then he would lose Jessica, and now that he knew Jessica was within in his grips more than she ever was - now that he knew that it was very possible to turn her willingly...at least, until he could perform the rest of the Submission Hex, he did not want to destroy the boy now. But he would have to think of something.

Tom put his gloves back on and sipped his tea just as Marcus Potter entered the café. Dressed in a dark cloak and a suit, Marcus managed to blend in with the Muggle crowd better than most Magic folk. As an Auror, he had taken a few lessons in Muggle customs and Muggle clothing. Smiling as he set the tea cup back on the table, Tom thought of how good it would be when the Magic folk wouldn't have to pretend to be these Muggles. It was purely disgusting that they - the stronger - had to hide amongst these filthy bloods.

"Hello, Tom," Marcus said, sitting across the table from him. They were next to the door, a positioning habit Tom had picked up recently when he was in the company of anyone that dared to question him. Tom rarely removed his gloves as of late because of the scars, so Tom sat near doors in order to have an excuse to keep his gloves on. If he were in the company of his own people, he would leave the gloves on without questions from them. At least, until he could find a suitable excuse to have extravagant scars on his hand.

Tom nodded at Marcus, looking up as a couple entered. They shivered briefly, shaking off water droplets, before speaking to the waitress that would seat them.

"Did you find Seth Jonson?"

Tom nodded again, watching the couple follow the waitress across the restaurant to be seated. The waitress was very pleasant looking, he noted.

When she turned back, Tom looked across at Marcus. He was merely looking enquiringly at Tom. He would not comment on Tom's distraction, for he was use to it by now, Tom knew. The thought caused him to struggle to suppress a grin. His 'supervisor' thought he knew his second in command so well? The thought was laughable. He gave a brief pondering to how he would kill Marcus when the time came, but Tom knew he had to move on and answer the man's question.

"He confirmed Alastor's finding on that sketch. Says that it's his calling card."

The waitress from Tom's earlier musings came up to them then, but she only had eyes for Marcus. "Can I get you something, Sir?" she said, smiling flirtatiously at him, her voice sounding like sweet honey.

Tom looked at his gloved hands for a brief, angry moment, before looking past the waitress and scanning the busy restaurant, looking at each face.

"Just tea," Marcus said, dismissively, barely looking at her.

When she left, Tom said as he looked over the restaurant crowd, "You should have asked her out. She would have gone with you."

"I learned long ago not to even look at them," Marcus replied, his voice slightly frustrated at Tom's turn of the conversation. "When you get married, you have to learn that sort of thing."

Tom glanced at him with a slight up-curling of the corner of his mouth. "That's why I'm never getting married."

"About what Jonson said, Tom," Marcus reminded.

Tom sighed. "He also said that the Dark...you know...was a present to people like you, the ones paying attention."

Marcus bit the tip of his tongue, an action he did every time he was angry about something.

"What?" Tom asked, finally giving him his full attention for the minute. "I thought you would be happy that you were right about this Voldemort. You aren't crazy. Completely crazy, anyway," Tom added with a smile.

"You were wrong then. I had wished that one of these days I would be completely crazy about this Voldemort, completely wrong about him."

"But you did find that you were right about him killing Minister Rin," Tom pointed out.

"He got into the Ministry then, Tom. How did he do that?" Marcus shook his head in frustration. "A calling card, Tom? It sounds like a taunt to me, pure and simple. A taunt aimed at me. Right under my nose. He was right there, under my nose. Probably still is somewhere." Marcus pushed himself up, ignoring the waitress and the tea that she had set in front of him. The snub caused her to stomp angrily away. Ignorant of the waitress and her actions, Marcus tossed a few pound notes on the table. "Eat a meal, Tom, and then snoop around a bit before coming by my office. We'll talk about a new direction."

Tom looked at the offensive pound notes. *Like I'm some errand boy*, he thought to himself angrily before he smiled up at Marcus, not realizing that his grin was almost sinister in nature. "I've actually got a trip to make, Marcus. A possible lead. I need to be gone for a few weeks."

Hesitating only a second, then turning completely trusting, Marcus only merely nodded distractedly. "Okay then. Good luck."

Once Marcus was outside, Tom leaned back in his chair. He remembered, as a boy, that Jeffery's father had taught the boys to hide their wands in their sleeves when they were in the Muggle population. Then, while at a restaurant, he had taught them how slight of hand could perform some very hidden magic while retaining its strong magical quality.

One time, while visiting with Jeffery's family on summer break, they had been eating in a Muggle restaurant. Jeffery's father had used this time to teach the kids how to really mess with the minds of the Muggles, making their food disappear or move to other plates. Coincidently, this was how they had discovered that their friend, Madeline Montgomery, had a very curious sort of magic. She had been in the same restaurant at the same time. When she noticed a few of the fights break out among a few of the customers, she had spotted the boys quickly. They had been 14 at the time, but Madeline, wandless during her meal, had managed to switch Jeffery's and Tom's plates before knocking a glass of wine onto Mr. Ziners' new suit. All of it without a wand. It had taken a month, but Madeline finally explained. It was at that time that he had learned of his own heritage.

But, today, in this restaurant, there would be no teenage pranks on Muggles. No, this prank would be much more...satisfying in nature. Sliding part of his wand from his sleeve, Tom spied the waitress across the restaurant. Carefully aiming as she turned towards his table again, he murmured a little spell.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Fifteen minutes later, Tom exited the men's room of the restaurant and did not stop when he heard the satisfied waitress give him a breathy plea to return. Subconsciously, he knew that he didn't want to remain because the fantasy would burst when the spell wore off, but consciously, he told himself it was because he was better than the crumpled heap of satisfied female still collapsed on the floor of the last stall in the men's room.

Pulling his own cloak around himself to protect his body from the wet breeze, Tom turned to walk down the London sidewalk, heading towards the nearest hiding spot so he could Apparate. Where would he go? Not out of England, certainly. No, he would go home for a while and then off to Little Hangleton for a little meeting, where they would decide on the next little present to leave Tom's little friend Marcus and their new Minister. Seth Jonson seemed to really like his Master's idea. Tom had a feeling the rest of his Death Eaters would like it just as much.

To Be Continued...