Mist and Vapors

When Hannah woke up, she was lying on a bed in a room she didn't recognize. As soon as she tried to sit up, she found that her body lay motionless; the only parts she could move were her head and neck.

Heart beating wildly, she looked around. The room was dreary, empty except for the cast-iron bedstead and a utilitarian bedside table. Old-fashioned wallpaper, strewn with yellowing cabbage roses and peeling around the edges, covered the walls. A tiny window, set high in the wall, admitted dim light into the room. It was impossible to tell what time of day it was. How long had she been here? Where was she?

"Father?" she called out in a panicky voice. "Are you there?"

In response, the door opened. "Well, look at that. It seems Sleeping Beauty has awakened at last." He was eyeing her coldly. "I was beginning to think you would sleep all day."

He was holding a glass of water and a plate in his hands. "Are you hungry?"

"What do you want with me? Where am I?" Hannah said, near tears.

"One question at a time," he said brusquely. "So - where are you? In a Ministry safe house, the whereabouts of which are Unplottable and only known to a handful of Aurors. And I prefer to keep it that way, so I am afraid that is all the information you're going to get."

"What time is it? How long have I been here?" From the small patch of grey sky visible through the window, she knew it was daytime, but she had no idea how long she had been knocked out. Severus would be so worried when she turned up missing. An icy finger crept back up her spine. That was assuming he was still safely at Hogwarts. Anything could have happened while she had been unconscious.

"Long enough." He put the glass and the plate, holding a sorry-looking ham sandwich, down on the bedside table. "And I'm afraid you will have to accept my hospitality for a while longer."

"Is Severus all right? What do you want with me?"

"I told you, one question at a time," he repeated irritably. "What do I want with you? I told you. I can't let you marry that Death Eater."

She let out a breath - if he was still worried about the marriage, Severus had to still be safe. "What are you proposing to do, then? Keep me captive here for the rest of my life?" she said bitterly.

"Oh, not at all," her father said with a nasty smile. "We only need you until your dearest love comes looking for you. The...other party and I agree that you make marvelous bait."

There was a fanatical glitter in his eyes that made her take a sharp breath. "Other party? Bait?"

"All in good time," he said with a confident smirk.

"So you are still after Severus, are you?" she said bitterly. Stupid question. His hatred for Severus had long ago left all sense and reason in the dust.

"Of course I am. Why shouldn't I be? He deserves to die. Ten times over."

"How about me? Once I've outlived my usefulness, are you going to kill me, too?" She wouldn't put it past him at this point. He seemed capable of anything.

He hesitated. "No. I don't think I could." For a moment, he was quiet. "You look too much like your mother." The words came out with a raw edge as his face contorted as if in pain. "So much like her."

He sat down on the edge of the bed, and moved a strand of hair off her face. "You have her smile, do you know that?" he said, his voice softening.

Hannah just looked at him, her face hard.

"She had that same little dimple right by the corner of her mouth when she smiled," he said, more to himself than to her. "It would only be there for a split second, and then it would disappear - you had to know when to look to catch it..."

"She wouldn't have liked this, you know," Hannah said carefully, watching his face. It wouldn't do to push him too far right now. "She would hate what you are doing."

His mouth contorted. "What do you know about anything? You barely knew her at all."

"I remember her, Father. I was thirteen, not five. I remember her face, her voice. I remember what she was like. I know she would have..."

"You know nothing." Frank cut her off, his hand slicing through the air in a gesture of finality. He got up and walked a few paces. For a minute, there was raw anger on his face, and then that faded away and was replaced with a grim, satisfied smile as he looked down on her. "And soon that will be literally true. I'm going to Obliviate you when we are done. You won't remember anything that happened - not Snape, not me, not even your name. You will forget everything that ever tied you to the magical world, and you'll be able to build a new life in the Muggle world, where you belong. It will be best for both of us."

"I don't belong there." She looked at him through angry tears, trying to hold on to control of her voice. "How dare you? I am your daughter. Her daughter." Squib or no Squib, the world of magic was her heritage. To forget all that made her who she was, all the things in her life, good and bad, that had shaped her into the person she was today; to forget everyone she cared about - friends, family, colleagues, even Severus...the idea seemed unbearable.

"Well, you don't belong in this world. You're a Squib," Frank said. "A Muggle at heart." His eyes narrowed, and his face started turning an ugly liver color around the edges. "How dare I? - How dare Dumbledore vouch for a Death Eater? How dare the Wizengamot let a killer go free? How dare they put him back into service to commit more atrocities? How dare Snape expect to be forgiven for what he has done? And how dare you associate yourself with such a man?"

"Father, I keep trying to tell you, Severus..."

"Did he ever tell you about Daphne Greengrass?" Frank interrupted her coldly.

Hannah hesitated. "No, but..."

"Of course he wouldn't. Let me tell you, then." Frank sat down on the side of the bed again. "But before I start...," he pointed at the sandwich, "do you want to eat?"

"No, thank you," Hannah said stiffly. She wasn't at all sure that anything that went down at the moment would actually stay down.

Frank shrugged. "Suit yourself. Well, anyway - we got the memory off Yaxley when we arrested him a few months ago. Greengrass was one of Snape's students. A seventh year; during the last year of the war, when Voldemort decided that there was to be no more fence-sitting among those families with ties to the Dark side. The Greengrasses obviously decided that they wouldn't throw their lot in with a megalomaniac psychopath, and so they fled the country. Haven't seen hide nor hair of them since."

He picked up the sandwich. "If you're not going to eat..." He took a bite. "Anyway," he said while he chewed, "they made the assumption that their daughter would be safe at Hogwarts. For a while, at least. I'm sure they were going to come for her eventually, but that's neither here nor there." He swallowed the bite and licked his lips. "Snape's Death Eater pals got Daphne during an Herbology outing. Took her from behind one of the greenhouses. They brought her before Riddle later that night. He spent a while working her over, feeding her fears, taunting her, teasing her, until she was a shaking, quivering bundle at his feet, begging for mercy. 'Will anyone speak for her?' he asked, then. 'For the traitors' daughter? Anyone at all?' And he pointed to one of the Death Eaters. 'How about you?' he said. 'You know her. Take off your mask; let her see you.' - It was Snape. You should have seen the pitiful look of relief on her face when he took off his mask and she saw that ugly mug of his. Your sweetheart was her teacher, you see. Her Head of House. She was one of his Snakes. He would protect her, wouldn't he?" Frank's voice had gone high and nasal, imitating a girl's, a frightened girl's. "He would take care of her, wouldn't he? She trusted him. And you know what he did, that savior of hers?" His face twisted into a jeering mask. "He said 'You disgust me,' in that inimitable sneer of his, and then he killed her. Avada Kedavra. Just like that." He snapped his fingers.

Hannah looked at him, tears in her eyes. I think I made a mistake, she thought. I should have let Severus talk when he wanted to tell me about the things he has done. I thought it would be easier for both of us if he didn't. I think I was wrong.

She swallowed hard. He shouldn't have to carry the weight of memories like these alone... He cares about those kids so much...She was one of his... For a moment she hated fiercely those who had put him in a position where he had had to make choices like this."Don't you see that she was dead anyway?" she said, her voice threatening to choke off. "There was no way he could have saved her. At least she had an easy, painless death. Voldemort would have not been so merciful, I think. It was the best he could do."

"How do you know? He could have tried. He should have tried." Frank's voice was hard.

"But he..."

"Try telling that to someone who cared about her," Frank interrupted her with a sneer. The half-crazed glint had gone out of his eyes, replaced by cold disdain. "He has brainwashed you to where you will forgive him anything, has he, then?" He looked at her with disgust. "Even the murder of children. But there are some things that shouldn't be forgiven. Ever."

"So why didn't you push for a new trial?" Hannah asked, the corners of her mouth curling down. "If you finally had proof? Someone, unlike your previous 'witnesses', who had actually seen his face? It must have been what you were waiting for."

"Because I couldn't have got a conviction," Frank said bitterly. "Dumbledore would just have shown up with the bloody Potter boy again and said the same thing you just did, and there would have been a hung jury. I'm not that stupid. No, I've given up on the Wizengamot."

"So the Head of Magical Law Enforcement is a law unto himself?" Hannah asked sharply. "Is that it?"

"If the system doesn't work, I will see that justice is done, yes," Frank said, eyes narrowing. "Well," he said, standing up again, "I think I better get to the office for a while."

He turned in the doorway, and pointed to a small door set into the wall. "I am going to let you move around in here. You will find a bathroom through that door. But don't get any ideas. All the doors and windows are well warded and protected by silencing charms." With a wave off his wand, the invisible weights that had held her immobile lifted. "I'll be back in a few hours. Hopefully I'll know more by then."

"Don't hurry back on my account," Hannah said bitterly.

.-.-.-.

He hadn't been worried when she didn't appear for breakfast. It was Easter break, and she was not by nature a morning person. She might have taken the opportunity to sleep in. And he certainly couldn't blame her for skipping the meal - he had, after all, been sorely tempted to just have Gwinny bring a tray to his room. He had been occupied the rest of the morning with replenishing Madam Pomfrey's supply of burn ointment and strengthening elixir, and hadn't given Hannah's absence another thought until lunch.

When she didn't show up for lunch, either, he made his way up to her rooms with a growing feeling of uneasiness. There was no answer to his knock. When he enquired of the portraits in the corridor, he drew a blank - none of them had seen her that day. He spoke the password that lifted the ward on her door, and cautiously opened. Nothing.

A short time later, Snape, in a swirl of black robes, burst through the door of McGonagall's study.

"Severus." McGonagall stood up from where she had been discussing requisition ledgers with Remus Lupin. "Good Lord, what is it?"

"Hannah. I can't find her anywhere."

"Have you checked her rooms?"

"What kind of idiot do you take me for?" he snarled. "Of course I have."

"And?"

"Nothing. No one has seen her all day. Not the portraits, not the house-elves." He paced restlessly in front of her desk.

"A shopping trip, maybe?" Lupin asked. "I'm sure she has lots to do before the wedding. She might have left early."

Snape looked down his long nose at Lupin, his lips pressed together tightly. "She would never have just left for the day without telling me."

"Is there any sign that there is foul play involved?" Minerva asked.

"Other than the fact that she has disappeared into thin air?" He was nearly shouting now. "No! Isn't that enough?"

At that moment, there was a slight 'pop', and Gwinny materialized in the middle of the room. The down-turned ears and woebegone expression on her face as she cowered before the Potions master made him draw in a hissing breath.

"Speak up, elf," he demanded. "What is it?"

"Well, Gwinny thinks you ought to know..." It was plain the elf thought her news would not be well received. "Master Snape asks Gwinny to check Mistress Hannah's quarters..."

"Speak up, I said!"

"Well, Sir, Gwinny always folds up Mistress' night clothes and puts them in her drawer. Neatly-like. Mistress has very pretty night clothes. Shiny, soft..."

"Get to the point," Snape interrupted her harshly.

"They's still in the drawer, the way they was yesterday. Mistress always leave them under her pillow in the morning for elves to put away." The elf looked up at Severus helplessly. "And the bed not be touched, either. Master says he wanted to know..."

The Potions master's mouth had set tightly. "Is anything else out of place? Or missing?"

"Just Mistress Hannah," the elf said, great big teardrops rolling from her enormous eyes.

Severus turned sharply to the wall, breathing hard. A moment later, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be all right," he heard the quiet voice of Remus Lupin. "She'll be back."

Snape spun around savagely. "And you know that how, exactly?" Keep your opinions to yourself, Lupin. And your hands. Any touch right now was enough to threaten his composure.

Behind him, Minerva had thrown a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace. "Filius, a word in my office, please?"

"Do you think Pettigrew...?" Lupin asked, taking a step back.

"How?" Severus interrupted him, resuming his pacing pattern. Four steps to the left. Pivot. Four steps to the right. "How could he have got her out without being seen?"

Flitwick stepped out of the fireplace and dusted himself off. With a quick whisper, McGonagall filled him in on what was going on.

"The portrait outside her door doesn't even recall the door opening since last night. He might have dozed off, of course. But every portrait, ghost, and house-elf in Hogwarts is on the lookout for Pettigrew. And the Hogwarts Floo system is closed to outside travel."

"A Portkey?" Flitwick suggested.

"It is possible," he said. "Not likely, though. To make a Portkey to inside her rooms, he would have needed to be quite familiar with the exact surroundings. Even if he knows where her quarters are located, it isn't likely that he has ever been inside. I could be wrong, of course."

"If he managed to sneak into Hogwarts at all, he could have used the internal Floo to get into her rooms," McGonagall said, looking as if she wished the thought had not occurred to her. "Any deserted office would have done. But still, you would have thought if he had dragged a full-grown woman out of the castle, somebody would have noticed..."

Severus closed his eyes for a moment, feeling like something was slowly ripping in his chest. The discussion was futile. No matter how he had taken her, the point was that she was gone. And that she could be anywhere, and that he had no way of finding her.

"There is another possibility," Flitwick said, slowly wringing his hands.

"Yes?" McGonagall asked.

"Well," the Charms master looked up at Severus, an uncomfortable expression on his face, "since the Ministry oversees Hogwarts, Ministry officials can establish a Floo connection to the school."

Severus had gone very still. "And her father is the Head of Magical Law Enforcement," he said very softly. "And Dumbledore went to the Ministry yesterday to file papers for our wedding."

"Afraid so," Flitwick said wretchedly. "Word might have got around...."

Severus had already taken a few steps towards the door.

"Where are you going?" McGonagall said, a look of alarm on her face.

"To pay Frank Hannigan's place of employment a visit," he said through clenched teeth.

McGonagall hurriedly picked up her cloak. "Wait, I'm coming with you." She turned to Flitwick and Lupin. "Would you two search the school again? Ask if anyone has heard or seen anything. Send a Patronus should you hear anything new." She hurried out the door and took off after Severus, who was well ahead of her, with long strides heading towards the Apparition point near the Forbidden Forest.

When she stepped way from the Apparition area on the left side of the Atrium inside the Ministry, she saw Severus up ahead, already getting his wand registered. He was pinning on a silver visitor's badge with ill-concealed impatience.

"Would you wait a second?" McGonagall huffed as she caught up with him, pushing past the people queuing up to use the fireplaces. She handed her wand to the security wizard and turned to Severus. "Surely a few seconds more or less will not make a difference?" He didn't answer, but strode off as soon as she received her badge and her wand back. Good thing, Minerva wryly thought, that she at least had the height and long legs to keep up with him without too much difficulty. Poor Flitwick would not have stood a chance.

He pushed the button for the second level as soon as they stepped into the lift, and the golden grille closed slowly. Standing next to him, McGonagall looked up with trepidation at his white, set face. "Severus, please promise me that..."

"I didn't ask you to come, Minerva," he interrupted her harshly. When the voice announced 'Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headqu..." he was out before the door had even opened half way.

Without so much as a glance at the curious eyes that followed his progress along the rows of cubicles that made up Auror Headquarters, Severus made his way to the back of the room where the offices for the senior officials were located.

It didn't take long to locate the ornate mahogany door which proclaimed 'Frank D. Hannigan, Head of Magical Law Enforcement" in large, golden letters. Snape opened it without so much as a knock. A small, balding wizard rose from behind his desk as the entered.

"May I help you?" he asked in a quavering voice.

"I am here to see Hannigan," Severus hissed. "Now."

"Do you have an appointment?" the small wizard asked and turned the page on the large desk calendar in front of him. "I have no one down for..."

Severus, both hands resting on the edge of the desk, paused for a split second, eyes half closed. Then, as if deciding he had given the secretary as much time as could possibly be spared, he straightened up and with an impatient, dismissive gesture walked past the desk and towards the impressive-looking frosted glass door that Minerva took to be the entrance to Hannigan's inner sanctum. There was nothing else to do but follow him.

"Hey! You can't do that!" they heard the whiny voice of the secretary complain as he scrambled after them. "This is most irregular..." but Severus paid no attention, and then they were through the door.

"Snape." Hannigan looked up with a hard smile as they entered the room. "What a pleasant surprise."