A Family Affair

Albus Dumbledore sat at the High Table in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, engaged with Madame Hooch in a lively conversation about Quidditch and trying to eat his breakfast. His periwinkle eyes were twinkling merrily. As the morning post arrived, hundreds of owls flew through the Great Hall, and those periwinkle eyes followed them. He winced sympathetically as poor Neville Longbottom received yet another Howler from his overbearing grandmother, and he smiled as he watched Harry Potter opening a letter which - judging by the look on the boy's face - must be from Harry's godfather. Albus was more than a little surprised when two large eagle owls dropped a rather sizable package onto the table in from of him, barely missing his plate and overturning his goblet of juice. Albus tucked the package into the deep pockets of his robes, excused himself from the table, and hurried to his office.

In the Headmaster's Office, alone except for his familiar, a phoenix called Fawkes, Albus considered the package for a moment. There were no markings to indicate where it had come from. Taking out his wand, Albus cast some spells, searching for any curses that might have been placed on the package. Finding none, he carefully began to open the parcel.

Inside he found a small envelope and a pensieve.

"Curious," he said.

Turning over the envelope, he noted the seal, but did not immediately recognize it. Carefully, he pried up the seal and took the sheet of parchment out of the envelope.

Headmaster Dumbledore,

The pensieve will tell you my predicament more succinctly than any missive I could write. Please use the information contained in it to keep my child safe.

N.M.

The Headmaster's eyebrows drew down in a puzzled frown. The safety of the children under his care here at Hogwarts was, of course, one of his main concerns. If a parent felt it necessary to ask him to keep his or her child safe....

He looked at the initials again, wondering.

Thoughtfully stroking his long white beard, Dumbledore peered into the pensieve. He touched the silvery surface, and felt himself pulled into the memories stored inside.

Some moments later, a rather shaken Dumbledore put the pensieve, parchment, and envelope into the bottom drawer of his desk, then secured the drawer with a locking charm and a couple of very powerful wards. Pushing himself up from his chair, the Headmaster left his office and headed to the dungeons.

************************************************************************

Severus Snape paused in mid sentence as the door to his Potions classroom opened. His eyes went to the doorway, where Albus Dumbledore stood.

"Professor," Dumbledore said, "could I have a moment of your time?"

"Yes, of course, Headmaster. Prefects, I leave the class in your... capable hands."

"Perhaps you should dismiss them, Severus," the Headmaster suggested quietly as Snape joined him near the door of the classroom. The Potions Master raised one dark eyebrow quizzically.

"Very well, Albus." Turning back to the class, Snape told his students "It seems as though I am needed elsewhere. You may go. However, I expect you to study the section on memory potions on your own time, as you will be tested on it next class period." With a final pointed glance at a few of his students, Professor Snape turned and followed Dumbledore back to the Headmaster's office.

"My friend, this concerns you in more ways than I care to consider," Albus began, casting spells to unlock his desk drawer. "I don't believe I will need to explain." He reached into the desk and pulled out the pensieve. The Headmaster passed it across the desk to Snape, whose eyebrows quirked up in a puzzled expression.

Snape lowered himself into a chair, placed the pensieve on the desk before him, and leaned forward to peer into the stored memories. Snape immediately recognized the hallway outside of Lucius Malfoy's private study. He touched the surface, and was inside. When he emerged from Narcissa's pensieve, Severus looked suddenly older than his 36 years.

"Do you think he means to go through with it?" Dumbledore asked, already knowing the answer.

"You know as well as I do, Albus, what Malfoy would do to gain favor with Voldemort - or even to keep from losing favor." Snape snorted - a wry almost-laugh. "I always said Lucius would kill his own mother if Voldemort asked it, but I never really thought he's sacrifice his son." He raised one slightly trembling hand to cover his eyes.

'Severus has been in this game too long,' Dumbledore thought.

"We must send Draco Malfoy into hiding at once," Severus said softly. "The question is where, and how."

"Are you certain that hiding the boy is the best alternative?"

"Forgive me for being blunt, Albus, but the last few years of dealing with Harry Potter have shown exactly how devious and determined Voldemort can be. Draco is more at risk than Potter ever was, simply because Lucius is involved. After all, if Lucius wants the boy we can't exactly hold him here."

"You're right of course." The Headmaster paused for a moment. "If Draco were to disappear, I have no doubts that Lucius would put as much time and effort as possible into locating him. I believe the question we need to ask ourselves is this: where is Lucius least likely to look for his son?"

The two men sat quietly for a long while. Albus pondered the question from many angles while absentmindedly stroking Fawkes' red and gold feathers. Snape stared at nothing in particular and unhinged his mind to let it wander where it would.

After many silent minutes had passed, Snape spoke again. "Among Muggles," he said. "Even if Lucius suspected your involvement in hiding Draco, he would never expect to find his bigotted little pureblooded replica living with Muggles."

Albus couldn't keep a slight smile from playing across his face. "I believe you may be right. However, with the increased activities of the Death Eaters, I hardly believe that Draco would be any safer among the Muggles than he would be at Hogwarts."

Snape gave the older man a wry grin. "You have connections everywhere, Albus. Surely you know of someone outside of England who would be willing to help you."

"Right again, my friend. I think perhaps Nathan Jaffe might be our best choice."

"Nathan Jaffe? That name sounds familiar."

Albus's eyes twinkled merrily. "That name should sound familiar. Nathan was Head Boy the year you started at Hogwarts. A Muggle-born wizard, whose parents were killed in the rash of Muggle murders perpetrated by Voldemort the first go-round. He would certainly be sympathetic to the cause, and he is safely outside of England."

"I have a class in ten minutes," Snape informed the Headmaster. "Let me know what Jaffe has to say, and I'll arrange to speak to Draco."

"Thank you, Severus."

Snape went back to his dungeons to teach. Dumbledore headed off the Hogwarts grounds; he had to find a telephone, as Transatlantic fireplace calls were inadvisable and owlpost would be far too slow. Time, after all, was of the essence; Beltane was less than a week away.