The Fire Wand

The Fire Wand

Chapter 14; The Protectus Breaks

'Wish I could trust that it was just this once
but I must do this I must.' Buffy: The Musical - Wish I Could Stay

Siana's throat was so dry in her shock that when someone knocked on the door outside, and she opened her mouth to reply automatically, a hacking cough emerged from her mouth. Her hands flew to her neck, but she couldn't seem to stop coughing, and in her mind's eye, she could see the words imprinting themselves upon her brain. Words which made her dry rasp all the more violent.

'Guilty of first degree murder.'

Dumbledore burst through the door just as Siana managed to make it to the sink. She frantically splashed her throat with the water from the tap. She swallowed the liquid down gratefully, letting it soothe her burning throat. She turned then to face Dumbledore, absently turning off the tap as she did so. He was dressed in a heavily embroidered blue travelling cloak, his face was stern behind his half moon spectacles.

They looked at each other for a moment, Siana not looking away from his very calculating gaze. She was determined not to appear weak, not after everything that had happened. After all she didn't want to act like a...like a convicted murderer. Siana felt her cheeks flush.

A sudden noise from Snape broke their concentration. They both turned and moved to his side, Dumbledore looking at him once and shaking his head slowly.

'Where are his potions?'

'U-Up-upstairs.' Siana said jerkily and Dumbledore stood. He pointed his wand at at Snape, commanding: 'Mobilicorpus.' Automatically Snape rose upright, his body limp. Without a second look at Siana, he sent Snape up ahead of him up the stairs.

Siana watched both of them disappear, trepidation crawling up her back. Dumbledore doesn't look happy, here's where I get told something awful. Like he's not going to be okay, or I'm not going to be okay. I already know I'm not going to be okay. God. God. God. I don't remember anything. First degree murder. How can I...how can I not remember that? How could no one have told me? She was shaking so violently as she sat down at the table, that the chair rattled as she pulled it in. She rested her head on the crude wooden surface and pushed the book away from her blindly, with her other hand. She didn't want to sense it anywhere near her.

Her breath sounded harsh against the cold, damp wood. The sheet which had previously been draped around her shoulders was now irritating her bare, mud-covered feet which were pained with cold. Her blood stained wand lay less than a feet away from her, seemingly innocent. Her mind was stopping and starting, caught in a barbed wire tangle of emotions that did not permit clear thought.

Now at least I...now I...know what happened to his sister. She tried to picture herself holding the wand, the wand that saw her expelled from Moreberries. She tried to picture Lydia Snape, the room of the trial, the psychological tests of St. Mungo's...tried to remember anything and found that she couldn't. Then it had to be Dad and Frederick...but you know that it was...but how could they? How could they? Ha! And you had the damned fool presence of mind to yell at Snape for putting you under...what would you say to Dad and Frederick? You'd probably whimper and run, you coward. The experiments were running almost, almost daily around the time I was expelled. Yes. I...It had been mid year holidays then, and her Mother had complained that she hadn't been spending enough time with the girls in the family. Even Nathan, her pompous brother, had lowered himself down from his Archiving duties to ask her whether her Dad had been pushing her too hard.

Then...Siana wracked her brain, nothing. A blank, vast, nothing. She had lost so much of her memory to the Insidious potion and Imperius curse that she never tried to find out what she had done under its influence. I never knew they were making me do anything, not like that. Never once did she think herself capable of murder, responsible for vindictive and malicious behaviour. Now...now what else was there in her past that she wasn't aware of? Her mind clamoured in an uncertain anxiety every time her thoughts raced over it.

She didn't have the energy to look up when she heard Dumbledore come down the stairs.

'Is he going to be okay?' She said into the table, her breath rebounding off the wood back into her face, a mixture of tea and terror.

Dumbledore said nothing as he pulled up a chair opposite her. She heard the legs of the chair scrape against the slate tiles as he pushed himself back into the table. There was a few moments silence and then he sighed and cleared his throat.

'What happened.' He said heavily and Siana looked up at the sound of that grave tone in his voice. He was looking at her with his piercing clear blue eyes, looking through her very soul it seemed. Siana frowned nervously, her gaze flickered over her blood stained wand and the book before she met his eyes. When she did, she saw he was looking at the book, a frown etching itself upon her face.

'Perhaps you should start from the very beginning. What happened when you arrived here in Stow?' He said softly. 'I must say, I didn't think you and Snape would disagree to the point of this...' He said, indicating upstairs and Siana shook her head.

'It's not like that...it's...is...is he going to be okay?' Siana asked again, desperate to know. Dumbledore nodded and folded his arms.

'Professor Snape will be alright. He needs sleep and rest. I'm unsure exactly what happened to him, but he's in no critical danger.' Dumbledore said calmly and Siana felt a surge of relief burst in upon the tumult of emotions inside of her.

'Okay. Okay...' She said nervously. 'That's good. Okay. Where to start? Um...we...um. Got here. Talked, got along fairly well considering our family differences and the fact that we seem to spend a lot of time threatening each other.' Siana said softly, her fingers lightly playing with the crevices in the dark wood. 'We both had nightmares that night. Me first, I was dreaming about Dad and Uncle Frederick, and the...what they used to do. Do you know about that?'

'I'm aware of it. I don't know anything in great detail, the Basilicans are secretive.'

'Oh yes. They are.' Siana said. Secretive enough to not even let me know that I'd killed someone. Secretive? To think I'm just like them, I'm a Basilica just like them. 'Well. Severus he woke me, and we talked some more. That was, I think it broke the ice really. He didn't know that Dad used to experiment like he did. He said something about misjudging me...and that made me laugh, because I didn't really understand how a nightmare about my Dad, could make him realise he'd misjudged me. I think...I think I get what he meant now.' Siana said, her eyes flickering back to the book.

'And then he went back to bed, and he had a nightmare. A bad one. I tried to wake him up.'

'Oh dear.' Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling slightly. Siana half frowned.

'Yeah. Won't be doing that again. He uh, threw me against a wall. It wasn't bad or anything, and he was...he was sensitive about it. Sat me down on his bed. We kept talking, and he said something about how I wouldn't remember because I was probably drugged at the time. He wouldn't elaborate and I...was just shocked to be there, talking to him in a civil manner...so then we talked about betrayal and pity...and then he you know...' Siana waved her hand vaguely, wondering if she was saying too much. 'We kissed.'

Dumbledore then looked mildly surprised.

'Just kissed?'

'Well.' Siana said nervously. Just kissed? 'Yeah. It was nice, unexpected and the next morning, which would be only a few hours ago, we kissed again. Got along really well. I don't think that happens very often...him getting along with people, me getting along with people. He asked me more about Dad and that's when...I told him about the Insidious potion, and I showed him one of the gestures. He repeated it, and I was, he hypnotised me basically. I lost it, got really angry. But he said he didn't do anything, and I believed him, I mean...I trust him. I told him that too. Then he said something about breakfast and an idea which made no sense...and when he came back down the stairs he was...he was....Uncle Frederick.'

'I see.' Dumbledore said, a slow realisation dawning on his face. Well I don't know what you've just understood, but I hope you enlighten me. I don't know how to explain seeing my Uncle and half destroying Severus Snape.

'I reacted badly. I went to Stun him. Did everything right, but, but this is going to sound really stupid. I did the spell and a serpent came out of my wand and went straight, straight through him. We all know I'm not good at spells, but this was...beyond...anyway. Anyway. He was...he's been getting worse since.' Siana whispered and Dumbledore frowned, his nimble fingers reaching out to take the book and the wand. He moved them in front of his eyes and shook his head slowly.

'You never knew about Lydia Snape?'

'Not until today. Severus gave me the book when we first met but...but I just thought he wanted me to know why my Dad was so...why...' Siana trailed off, her voice breaking. Her eyes widened in shock. It sounds like I'm about to cry, I'm not going to cry! I don't even feel like crying!

Though for a moment she wondered, her throat and chest were burning fiercely.

'Siana, you do realise that you weren't responsible for Lydia Snape's death?'

'I was convicted. Just because I don't remember it doesn't mean I didn't do it.' Siana said hoarsely and Dumbledore shook his head slowly.

'I'm going to tell you something which you might not be aware of. There are things about your life which you need to know. Your father was a brilliant Auror, not as brilliant as Alastor Moody, but brilliant, and needed. At the time the Ministry of Magic found his insights into the Imperius curse and similar potions to be intelligent and necessary. His form of Imperius meant a lot of Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters came out of the woodwork peacefully, blissfully. He was one of the only Aurors authorised to use that curse, this is before Barty Crouch...you have to understand Siana, Kirk Basilica knew how to capture criminals.'

Dumbledore paused and sighed heavily.

'But your father got carried away, several times, and it became evident that he was not entirely ethical or moral with his use of any of the Unforgivable curses. At first, he was let off lightly for acts which anyone else might have received a life sentence in Azkaban for. Accidentally killing a supporter of Voldemort when they were supposed to come in for questioning, when they had to come in for questioning, because we weren't even sure of their guilt...things like that, which at the time, did not cause much concern in the wizarding society. People were just happy that people were being caught.'

'But then...everyone started to realise, including myself, that it was getting taken too far. You have to realise we all wanted to trust him Siana, he was an intensely likeable young man, his stubbornness seemed to add to his charm, and his passion for his work was enviable. However...the changes could not be denied. I worked on an assignment with him once and I saw for myself, he and his brother were capable of acts just as dehumanising as the Death Eaters. On assignment I had the fortune of staying over at the Basilican Archives, a beautiful place. I saw you, a young what should have been carefree teenager...you were nothing of the sort.'

'I've met you before?' Siana said numbly and closed her mouth when Dumbledore held up his hand.

'Bear with me. I know I'm rambling. You were vacant, tired and constantly uncertain. I had assumed you were under the effects of the Imperius curse, but my subtle attempts to break it did not work. That's when I suspected that it was far more sinister. And it was child, it was far more sinister. You had been conditioned to be a vessel, and through a combination of spells and potions, and the familial connection, you were, and probably still are, conditioned to do what you are told. Not only that, but once you have done something, you can then be conditioned to believe what you are told without question...you believe that you killed Lydia Snape, because you were told you did. You said it so convincingly a curse could not fault you at St. Mungo's. You said horrific things because you were told to, much to the outrage of the magical community. This took the blame and the focus off your father somewhat...and his influence among the Ministry meant a lot of the charges against him never came to be served. You on the other hand...there was a lot of fall-out after the Snape vs Basilica trial. Most simply excused your actions as that of a confused child.'

'What happened to the review of my case?'

'I'm not sure. There may be no review. You came of age long before you came to Hogwarts. Maybe there was no review...because you were locked in that tower for so long, and no one thought you were a danger to the outside world. Now before you ask me any more questions I'm going to say this. You believe that you killed Lydia Snape, but it was not you. Your father worked through you, or your Uncle, I cannot ascertain which, and your actions were not your own. It does beg the question, why your father would want to see Lydia Snape dead, and what he had to gain from it.' Dumbledore mused and Siana blinked rapidly.

She felt like she had been mentally raped.

She never thought that she could feel so violated knowing that her Dad had willingly taken over her mind without a second thought to her personal wants or needs. They had used her as a scapegoat. Somewhere inside, a voice was crying, hoarsely, incessantly. It grated on her thoughts.

'Now...as to these recent events...I have a theory...'

'Uncle Frederick came today. When I contacted you...he put the Locarius curse on me.' Siana said quickly and Dumbledore's eyes narrowed.

'Did he attempt to hypnotise you?'

Siana nodded mutely and then looked at her wounded arm. 'I closed my eyes, it's a visual cue. There's a sound cue - but because of the thunderstorm it would have been flawed. And I, transfigured a tree outside into a monster. That's why, why he left. I hid inside the shield and sort of, fell in my desperation to get out. Which is why I have a bandage on my arm.' Siana mumbled and Dumbledore shook his head slowly.

'Then we are no longer safe here. I will explain some things first, quickly, and then we will leave Sibilant Stow and go back to Hogwarts. Now...my theory. I told you earlier that your wand seems to exacerbate what you intend to do at the time. It has some kind of Power, or you do, I'm not sure which. You Stunned what you thought to be you Uncle, your fear and your anger put a lot of Power into that spell...and I'd like to say that it was entirely the fault of the wand that caused Severus Snape to be in the position he is now, but the fact remains that his condition was slowly worsening in the time span from when you Stunned him to when I arrived. There is something in you Siana, which was causing his decline in health.'

Siana blinked in shock. Her throat and chest were still burning.

'I recommend that you take a break from casting any spells...whether they be light or dark in nature. I also recommend that you not spend time with him-'

'I would have killed him?' Siana whispered painfully...a horrible feeling in her gut. Her eyes were prickling. 'I...after everything...I even tried to revive him...and I...'

'Siana...' Dumbledore began sadly but Siana stood, feeling her breathing become heavier, faster. The burning sensation was crawling up her throat, it changed into a strange bitterness on her tongue. She was still shaking, cold and shaking.

'After everything I've found out.' Siana began, claws of emotion digging themselves into her mercilessly. 'I'm a murderer, I'm in league with my Father who still has so much control over me that under his control I could kill, I'm a danger to everyone who wants to protect me from Voldemort and I nearly killed the man who offered me the only comfort I'd accept?' She backed away against the door and stifled the sob in the back of her throat. A Basilica never cries.

'There's nothing left! I've lost everyone, my family, my familiar, my confidence in my ability to cast spells, my confidence in my own memory which is, I discover, a fucking castle built on foundations of lies and deceit. And the one person, the one person who makes me feel slightly better...I can't see him because I nearly killed him? Because I'm likely to do it again?' Siana sobbed, a dry sob, though her tears were welling up faster than she could ever remember.

I have nothing. I'm alone, and I'm sorry Dumbledore but...god. I have to get out of here. I have to get out of here. I'm going to...

Siana bolted up the stairs as the tears started to spill. She heard Dumbledore cry out after her, much like he did when she had run away from him the first time at Hogwarts, blinded by grief and irrationality. It was me, I put him through that much pain, him screaming in agony was my fault. Arching on the floor in excruciating pain, breathing irregularly...dying. I did that. God, no wonder Dad kept me locked up in a tower, I was never fit to live among others like me. I don't think I ever will be. I'm useless...useless...and now a wreck.

Her eyes were hot with tears and the tracks that curved down her face were hot. Her body was freezing from the icy wind that running created. All she wanted now was to disappear, disappear and ignore the pain. The pain was not something to be ignored though, and she was finding that with every step the suffocating feeling of holding back her cries was getting overwhelming.

She burst into the room where Severus now lay, looking pale and sweaty. She froze, one hand supporting her on the granite wall. More than anything, she wanted to touch him, see him wake up, talk to him and tell him everything was going to be alright. For both of them. Yet she couldn't, she couldn't touch him now. She had been told not to. Knowing that she couldn't do what she most wanted to ate away at her insides and she blindly staggered into her own room...falling beside her bed when her legs crumpled underneath her.

'Siana. Child, this has been a terrible ordeal for you.'

Siana shook her head blindly. She didn't want anyone there when she cried...no one...why did it have to be him? The man she respected, the man who represented strength? Are you such a weakling that you'll cry at the sign of any strength god be strong girl!

'I...don't...understand....' Siana sobbed softly, her mind flickering over everything that had happened the past few days. 'One minute...I'm cleaning the floors at home and the next...Macnair is...and I'm here and...and...' she choked off, hating herself for being a child, hating herself for crying, hating herself in such a way that she would have made her father and Uncle Frederick proud.

Dumbledore knelt down beside her and instead of pulling her into an embrace as she expected, he placed a gentle hand on her shaking shoulders. His breath sounded heavily against her own, which was strained and painful, frightened and fast all at once. He did not pressure her to talk, merely sat there with her, understanding that her sobs were choking her ability to continue speaking.

The sobs seemed to come from within an ocean Siana never really knew she had. She had always been frightened that once she started crying, she'd never be able to stop, and now she found that her own fear of her grief was making the situation worse. Sorrow clawed its hungry way out of her, devouring her heart, eating an empty space in her already wounded soul. Guilt, fear and anguish all moved through her with a shuddering, repetitive force which blocked out her thoughts. Blocked out everything except what she was feeling.

Siana had never known she could feel so much at once...hatred for her situation, hatred for herself, love for the family that she had lost, Athena...her dear Athena. There was a dreadful sense of responsibility which weighed down upon her, remorse that she could not be a better person, more skilled, more able to look after those around her. Then there was the helplessness...and the abiding terror that Voldemort and Uncle Frederick would find her, and use her, to what ends she did not know.

She sensed Dumbledore get up and blocked it from her mind, the humiliation of breaking down in front of Dumbledore just seemed to be another heavy burden upon all others. As he went, she buried her face deeper into the side of the mattress, wishing herself away, wishing her pain away...wishing that she was anywhere but here.

Her sobs ripped out of her throat, her chest was sore, her stomach was aching, her throat was raw with the force of them. Her eyes were hurt from constantly blinking tears from them, her nose was running and she didn't have the presence of mind to be embarrassed.

She jolted when she felt the hand on her shoulder again. Only this time it felt slightly different...it was squeezing, reassuring. Tentatively, shakily she turned her head to face the Headmaster once again kneeling at her side.

'I'm so sorry.' She said brokenly. 'I'm so sorry.'

'I don't blame you in the slightest. How could I?' Dumbledore quietly said, handing her a small vial of potion. His eyes were shining in a strange way, and Siana could almost sense reluctance in his movements. A second later he voiced what she had sensed.

'I don't want to do this Siana...and I feel somewhat responsible for prolonging your pain by cutting it short. Please take this.' He insisted softly and Siana took the small, grey vial with its unintelligible black sigil. She swallowed it down in one go, praying that it would stop her body from shaking so violently, or her tears from spilling so quickly. It tasted like cabbage and flowers, a strange combination. It warmed her throat and then rested, calm, in her stomach.

Her shoulders stopped heaving so violently.

'Your grief Siana is a fragile and volatile thing, like the rest of you, currently.' Dumbledore said sadly, gently taking the vial from her fingers and setting it down beside her. 'It would not do for you to lose your senses in such a situation when you could be easily taken advantage of. I'm sorry Siana, at any other time I would condone, support, even encourage your catharsis...but now...Now is not the-'

There was a loud explosion from somewhere outside and Siana jumped, Dumbledore's frown deepened and lines etched upon his forehead.

'Time.' Dumbledore finished worriedly, withdrawing his wand and moving to the tiny pothole of a window in Severus' room.

Siana was almost too worn with exhaustion to notice that they were in danger...almost. Quietly she stood, her breathing shaky and shuddering, her hands wringing themselves, her toes curling into the stone floor.

'What is it?' She said, walking into Severus' room and avoiding looking at his sallow face. The face which was like a wet clay slab, so unhealthy was it. Dumbledore was staring through the tiny window, a grim expression on his face.

'We're being attacked. Your Uncle Frederick has sent three Death Eaters, I can't recognise them. Now that they know the shield is here...enough magical force will bring it down. I strongly suspect that your Uncle Frederick has that magical force. Unfortunately.' He said softly and he frowned. 'I'm going to have to send him off in another direction it seems.'

'You can't do that.' Siana argued. 'You can't, let me go, that's why he's here...he only thinks I'm here.'

'He's not stupid enough to think that you would be sent into the middle of nowhere without an escort. Now go downstairs quickly, get your wand - do not use it. I think I saw Professor Snape's wand also, please retrieve that. Hurry.' He ordered and Siana bolted.

She grabbed both wands, skirting the glass from the broken vial which was still scattered on the floor, and then ran back up the stairs. Dumbledore held out his hand and Siana threw Snape's wand to him. Quietly he placed it within Snape's robes once more. He looked out of the window again as another explosion shook the building.

'Siana!' A voice shouted and Siana's eyes widened.

'Frederick, he's using Sonorus.' She whispered and shook her head frantically. 'He's going to try and use a vocal cue Dumbledore what do I do?'

'Siana sweetheart, I have something to tell you...can you keep a secret?' The voice taunted, unnaturally loud. On the bed, Snape stirred. Dumbledore was beckoning her to him and Siana went, frightened more of the voice than of anything else. He placed his wand at her ears and said; 'Immoexaudum Sonorus!'

Immediately there was a faint rushing in her ears and Siana blinked.

'Can you still hear me?' Dumbledore said and Siana nodded her head, confused. 'Can you hear what your Uncle is saying?' He added and Siana shook her head, more confused.

'What did you do?'

'You cannot hear the effects of Sonorus now. I didn't know if it would be effective, I've never tried that before.' He said with a curious look at his wand. His eyebrows rose then and he listened outside, his eyes widening. 'He's saying an awful lot to do with sitting down...is that your cue?'

'It's one of them.' Siana said quietly, looking out of the window herself, and not recognising any of the three forms standing outside, quietly blasting away at the wand which now glowed faintly. Sitting down on the pedestal. That was one. There's not enough salt. Another. You're mine, to do with as I please...was possibly the worst. She'd hated hearing that she belonged to someone, just before her memory turned blank.

'He's not very happy, he keeps repeating the cue...now...here's what we're going to do. As soon as the shield lowers, which is inevitable, I'm going to Apparate all three of us to the entrance of Hogwarts where Professor McGonagall will be waiting. With this shield down, Apparition becomes possible...and I'll probably need those potions too...Severus would threaten to quit if he found out that I'd forgotten his private stores and left them with the Deat Eaters. Can you place them next to him please?' He said quietly and Siana bent down and started placing his things next to him.

Some more explosions sounded and Dumbledore nodded in finality at the bright flash that shattered across the sky. The shield had broken. He raised his wand and started to open his mouth when Siana felt a debilitating force rip into her body. She staggered backwards, away from Dumbledore and then gasped as her breathing was locked into her throat. She couldn't exhale. The Locarius Spell...I should have known. Her fingers scraped at her throat, her chest was hurting with not being able to breath. When she heard footsteps from her left, not Dumbledore's and impossibly Snape's, she froze.

'We Basilicas always know how to keep in contact with one another. Dumbledore...Sir, I don't recommend you even attempt to Apparate. You don't think we didn't disable that as we bought down the shield. You're a smart man and we had to take that into account...oh look. Severus.' His face curled into disgust. 'A worthless man, both when he was a Death Eater and as a wizard, he couldn't even...' Frederick trailed off, looking at Dumbledore thoughtfully. Does he know that Snape is a double agent? He couldn't possibly. 'Now my dear Dumbledore, unless you, oh, wait a minute.' He turned to Siana (keeping his wand trained on Dumbledore) and grinned, the cheerful grin that never made him seem any more likeable, even when it was reaching his eyes. What made Uncle Frederick happy, rarely made anyone else happy. 'Sweetheart, you're mine, to do with as I please.'

Siana's body tensed as she heard the words, surprise racing through her. She forgot that she couldn't breathe and bliss shuddered through her body. Her mind was floating in peace, and her awareness was reduced to nothing. She was nothing but a sensation, floating in the middle of no where. A place where nothing existed, no colours, no texture, no thoughts, no other emotion except for what she was feeling now.

And then slowly the colours started to drain back, the textures...other emotions like pain and fear. Suddenly her thoughts exploded in her head and she jerked out of her trance, fear rushing through her.

'What? No.' Siana gasped and shook her head violently, struggling out of a grip which terrified her. No no.

'Siana, it's Albus Dumbledore.' A wise voice was saying and Siana's eyes opened, her violet sight training on him. Immediately recollection of being put under came back to her and she looked around for any sign of Frederick.

However Frederick was gone, and as her eyes trailed over Snape's bed, she saw that he had also disappeared.

'What? What?! No! ' Siana shrieked, twisting violently out of Dumbledore's grip and rushing to the bed. His potions were still there, but where he had lay, an impression was all that was left in the bed. 'No! He was taken wasn't he? Why wasn't I taken? What happened?'

'I shielded the both of us.' Dumbledore said heavily... 'I did not have either the time or the resources to extend the shield. I also did not think it wise to shield he who might be able to, if only temporarily, appease Voldemort.'

'You let him go?' Siana shrieked, turning on Dumbledore, her mind racing. What's going on? I thought you were trustworthy! I thought you were all trustworthy! And now he's gone?

'Siana I told you.' Dumbledore said then, sternly. 'I did not have the time or the resources...there is more than one reason for my disability in protecting Professor Snape. Kindly stop your worry from taking over your mouth.' He said sharply and Siana swallowed.

'I thought his life was in danger. Doesn't that mean anything to you?' She hissed. 'He can't go there...he simply can't. His life is in danger dammit!'

'Yes it is. But Severus has proven more than once that he is capable of protecting himself around Voldemort more than any other. Though he is not safe, he is the least likely of all of us, to be killed. You might not be aware of this child, but Severus has on two separate occasions since your arrival at Hogwarts, appeased Voldemort by saying that you were under his care...and that you would be delivered post haste. It is only through his interventions that Voldemort did not attack sooner than today...we could have prevented this...had it not been for the fact that Voldemort, not for the first time, suspected Severus.'

It's too dangerous. God, why can't I just be taken? What's the big deal? I'm not that important, there's nothing about me that could make Voldemort stronger. Just let me go. I'm only a damned vessel anyway. Siana struggled to marshal her disoriented thoughts.

'But Uncle Frederick, he knows, he'll try and get Snape killed...he knows that Snape was protecting me.'

'No. He doesn't. Not in the way you think. For a start Snape was unconscious...which could easily be mistaken as you attacking him as he tried to deliver you to Voldemort. In fact that's what I led one Frederick Basilica to believe. Snape is, when time is permitting, a double agent, I'm sure you're aware of this.' He paused and Siana nodded. Vaguely aware. As much as I am of anything. 'His condition and the fact that I did not shield him, will lead the Death Eaters to believe he was attacked as an unwelcome guest. Then there's the issue of bloodline hatred, which still runs strong.'

'Severus Stunned Frederick in the library and then made a guise of hating the Basilicans so much that he went to Voldemort in a fury. The hatred between the Snape and Basilican bloodline does run very deep. Frederick was furious that Voldemort chose to give Severus the supposed gift of providing you...since then Frederick has been trying to trip Severus up, he's trying to make Severus lose character in Voldemort's eyes. Voldemort however is canny, and will suspect that the blood rivalry pays a large part in what they both will say in this situation...he will I believe, largely disregard what either have to say about the bloodlines and look at the evidence. Severus Snape, unconscious and hurt. Severus is smart enough to play to his advantage.'

'Has Snape found out why Voldemort wants me?'

'No. Regrettably not. It does not do to push one's opportunities amongst Voldemort. Now child I want you to-'

'I have to leave.' Siana mumbled and Dumbledore's eyes widened. 'I have to, don't you see? I can't help here...I'm getting people hurt, I'm the one hurting people. I just need to go on a temporary holiday or something, go back to Ollivander and talk to him about my wand.'

'My dear that is not the answer. You could easily be found under the Locarius spell. I do believe that was what stopped you from breathing earlier?' He said succinctly and Siana shrugged.

'You can only use to Locarius within a certain range...it's not a world wide spell. And I...'

'I don't want you to leave Siana.' Dumbledore said softly and Siana's eyes narrowed.

'I don't care if the whole world respects you, you can't tell me what to do.'

'I didn't tell you what to do.' Dumbledore said quietly, though there was a steel note in his voice and a fire raging behind his glasses. Siana felt like quailing behind it, but rebelliousness was coursing through her. Besides, the Basilicans had always held Albus Dumbledore in a kind of disregard. She frowned.

'I'll come back to Hogwarts with you, and then...I'll decide from there. No one can tell me what to do.' Siana added quietly and Dumbledore's eyes suddenly narrowed. They both knew that wasn't true...she looked away from his assessing gaze and bit her lip. 'I'm sorry. I'm being belligerent.' She added and shook her head slowly. 'I'm sorry.'

She didn't dare tell him that she was still seriously considering leaving, no matter what Dumbledore said to her. She would make up her mind when she got back to Hogwarts...when she knew that Snape was going to be alright. When she looked up again at Dumbledore she had a sneaking, uncomfortable suspicion that he knew what she was thinking.

She held his gaze for a few moments, torn between fear and resentment, and then looked away again. Dumbledore then cleared his throat.

'Well...lets get our things together and go back to Hogwarts shall we?' He said softly and Siana nodded...mute. She looked to the bed where Snape had been and felt a sadness race through her. He had been saved, only to be sent off to Voldemort. Suddenly her brain seemed to flash.

'Dumbledore? Sir?'

'Yes Siana?' Dumbledore said as he put tiny potions vials back inside the black bag that Snape had bought with him.

'Thank you...for protecting me...I know you're doing it not only for me, but it's nice, to be protected.' She said simply. 'Thanks.' She added.

Dumbledore smiled then, a small, soft smile. 'You're very welcome Siana. Come along then child, we have things to do and people to alert, and you look like you could do with a warm, clean robe.'

Siana smiled then, she couldn't help it.