Beholden To No Man

Chapter 8

Severus returned to the castle and immediately checked both his office and his quarters for a message in case he had missed an owl. There was nothing. Aurelia had not come to dinner, nor had she notified him that she would be unable to meet him at Rosmerta's. He would never have admitted it, but for the first time that he could remember, he had been looking forward to celebrating his birthday. If she had been busy at the hospital, he could have understood that, although he would still have been secretly disappointed. However, she hadn't been there either.

As he paced his room, he kept going over the letter that he had sent to her. He supposed it was possible his reply to her request had not been sufficient. His discussion with his mother had convinced him that Aurelia wanted to know how he felt about her, whether he loved her. His reply had been rather short, and in hindsight, perhaps a bit terse. Would that have been enough to drive her away? He had thought she would have preferred hearing what he had to say face to face, not just reading it on a piece of parchment.

Deciding this was a riddle he would not solve on his own, he headed up to the library. Stepping up to the desk, he demanded, "I need to talk with you".

"The library closes in an hour. Would you like me to meet you in your quarters?"

"I need to talk, now," he hissed through clenched teeth.

"The library isn't closed, yet," she replied unperturbed by his brusque behavior.

Turning to face the library's patrons, he announced tersely, "The library is now closed. All students are to depart." When they didn't move fast enough, he shouted, "NOW!" Within seconds the library was emptied.

Eileen raised an eyebrow and gave him a disgusted look. "Was that really necessary?"

"Aurelia did not show up to dinner tonight."

"Oh? Was she busy at work?"

"No," he replied sharply. "Nor was she at home, nor did she send me a message informing me that she wouldn't be there. Obviously, she stood me up."

"Why would she do that? She's the one who invited you to dinner?"

"That's why I am here. You are a woman, not to mention the fact that I have been taking your advice regarding this matter so far. Is it possible that my less than enthusiastic reply would have given her the impression that I do not love her?"

"No, not at all," she reassured. "Come, let's have some tea."

"I'd prefer something stronger."

"Well, you're getting tea tonight. At least until we finish talking."

"How can you be sure that my brief response to her dinner invitation did not drive her off?"

She placed her hand on his arm, and found herself unable to hide the pain from her expression. "She's known you for more than half a year. In that time, she's sure to have realized that you aren't the outwardly emotional type. And let's not forget that she must love you, or she wouldn't have gone to such lengths to discover how you truly feel about her. You said she has a friend; did you check there?"

It hadn't occurred to him at the time. "No."

"Well, that would be a start. Perhaps her friend had an emergency? Any number of things could have come up that could have prevented her from contacting you. Send her an owl and see what she has to say, but be polite. Don't demand to know where she was."

Arching an eyebrow, he retorted, "I would never do that."

Eileen chuckled softly. "I beg to differ, but it doesn't matter. Until you know what happened, just don't jump to conclusions. It's not like you haven't ever had emergencies yourself."

He scowled, realizing that she was right. He would send her an owl and ask politely where she had been. Deciding that he didn't have anything else to discuss, he rose.

"You're welcome," Eileen called sarcastically to his retreating back.

He froze and turned his head over his shoulder. "Thank you."

As he left the library, he began composing the new letter in his head. He was so lost in thought that he walked straight into Adrian. "Headmaster, forgive me."

"Well, Severus. How unexpected to run into you. Did you enjoy your dinner?"

This simple question reminded him that he had not eaten yet. He was also faced with determining how to answer this awkward question. "It was fine."

"I must admit, I expected you to be gone longer. Though I suppose she must have a considerable amount of St. Mungo's business to attend to these days, what with that large donation and all." Adrian gave Severus a sly grin and a wink.

Refraining from rolling his eyes, Severus replied, "If you will excuse me, Adrian, I also am quite busy."

"Of course, of course. You must have quite important things on your mind too these days. I'll let you get on with your business."

Severus hardly even heard the old man's reply as he walked away. Within an hour, he had posted a letter to Aurelia and sent it with the most trustworthy owl at the school.

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

Aurelia sat in a well-appointed room. There was an elegant four-poster bed, a sitting area in front of the fireplace, and a large bathroom. She still wasn't sure exactly what had happened her. She had left work and was stopping at the market to pick up food for breakfast. The next thing she knew, she was in this room. The room was windowless - so she had no idea where she might be or what time of day it was - but the lamps provided more than enough light. The door was locked and her wand was gone, so there was little she could do to escape.

She wondered how long it would take anyone to notice she was missing? What would they do when she didn't show up at work? She tried not to think about the fact that if she wasn't in Britain, it was unlikely the Ministry would ever find her. Would Severus come looking for her? She desperately hoped so.

After determining there was no escape from her comfortable prison, she sat on the bed, waiting for someone to come for her.

Four hours after she regained consciousness, the door opened, and a rather imposing wizard gestured for her to follow him. Knowing she had no choice, she followed. While she was completely terrified, she hoped that she would be able to control her emotions to a certain extent. She knew that predators fed off the fear of their prey.

It was only a short walk before the wizard left her in another room. She noticed this one had a table set for two in addition to the normal furnishings of a living room. Restlessly, she paced the room, hoping it wouldn't be long before her captor to reveal himself.

She spun around as she heard the door open behind her.

Lucius Malfoy had a huge grin on his face. "I apologize for keeping you waiting. I hope that you have been comfortable."

He had been the last person she had expected to see. She had thought that if he hadn't done anything caused her any trouble by now, he wouldn't. "What do you want with me?"

"You kidnapped me!" she shouted defensively.

Crossing to the table, he casually opened the wine bottle and poured two glasses. "Now that is rather harsh and impolite. I had thought that your manners were better than that."

She refused to accept the glass that he held out to her. Moderating her tone, she retorted, "Kidnapping someone is quite a bit less mannerly than that! Why am I here?"

Evading her question, he said, "I find discussion on an empty stomach rather tedious. Won't you join me at my dinner table?"

Sitting on the sofa, she turned her back on him in answer.

"Well, then, you will forgive me if I eat alone."

At first, it was easy to ignore him, but the smell of the food wafted over to her, reminding her that she had not eaten since lunch, and it must be close to midnight. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of giving in to him, but it was hard for her to ignore her rumbling stomach.

"I assure you that the food is in no way poisoned. And it is quite exquisite. The roast pork is especially succulent."

That made it harder still for her to ignore her hunger. Roast pork was her favorite dish. And she rationalized that she had no idea when she might be fed again. After all, she had no intention of cooperating with him. Sitting down across from him, she snapped her napkin before placing it in her lap and delicately eating her food. The pork was quite good, but she would never admit that to him.

"So good of you to come to your senses and join me. I think you could find your stay here quite pleasant."

She tried not to choke on her food. "I doubt it."

"My dear, there is no reason for you to be so rude. Is your room not comfortable?"

"Terrifically comfortable for a prison cell. You know, they'll realize I'm gone and come looking for me."

He chuckled softly. "Not for several days. You see, you sent them a letter, informing them that you would be taking some time off."

"They'll know it's not from me."

"Unlikely. The handwriting is a perfect match, and everyone knows that you deserve some time off."

"Severus will rescue me," she replied curtly. When she didn't show up for dinner, he would get worried, and dig deeper into the mystery of her absence than any of her coworkers would.

"That is a pleasant illusion for you to hold on to, but I fear that it will not be a reality. You see, we are not in France." After a few seconds of careful consideration, he added, "You could do so much better than someone like him." He reached across the small table to pet her cheek, and she jerked away from him.

She did her best to ignore him, and they finished the meal in silence.

Once finished with the meal, he refilled his glass and again offered her a glass of wine. "Are you sure you won't have any?" When she glared at him, he continued, "As you wish. I suppose you are curious about why I've had you brought here."

"Yes, I would like to know why you've kidnapped me."

Rising from the table, he moved to one of the chairs. "I did not kidnap you. I wished to meet with you, and I knew that you would refuse any direct offer, so I decided not to waste my time." When she didn't reply, he continued, "I know that you were working on something to help Severus this past summer. Something to help him with how he was feeling after the war."

"Get to the bloody point!" she shouted.

He chided gently, "Temper, temper, my dear. I only want you to help me, too."

"That will never happen. The world will be better off without you."

"You believe that, do you? Without me, your hospital would not have an endowment for a new Poisons Ward."

"That's your money?" she asked in complete surprise.

He gave her a sly grin and replied, "Who else would have that sort of money? The wizarding world needs me, and I, in turn, need you."

Defiantly, she replied, "My services can't just be bought by any criminal who thinks he has sufficient funds to do so."

His smile faded somewhat, but did not completely disappear. "I wish I could discuss this with you, but I'm sure that you understand the restrictions placed upon me. I ask that you trust that the wizarding world does indeed need me."

"Never," she insisted.

The smile was completely gone now. "As you wish. I will give you time to change your mind. I will try to make your stay here as comfortable as possible, but my patience is not infinite." With that, he swept out of the room.

Almost immediately, the gruff wizard was standing at the doorway, waiting for her to join him. She sighed and lowered her eyes as she let him lead her back to her room. Severus would find her, no matter what Lucius had said. He just had to find her.

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

By Saturday, Severus still hadn't heard from Aurelia, and neither had anyone else, and he was now quite concerned. Unable to remain at Hogwarts doing nothing, he decided to see if she had returned home. A check of her house showed that she had still not been there. At St. Mungo's, Johnson produced a letter saying that Aurelia was meeting with the anonymous donor, and that she would be away for a few days. Severus found it odd that she would not have informed him, but then again, he knew wealthy old wizards could be a bit eccentric. Perhaps she had sent him a message but it had just gone astray. Yes, that made perfect sense.

He contemplated asking Julia if she had heard from her mother - surely if she were planning on staying out of the country for more than a day or so, she would have notified her children. But then, he didn't want to unnecessarily worry the girls if Aurelia had not notified them one way or another. In that case, he had no doubt that Julia would be unable to keep his inquiry secret from her sister for very long.

As he was returning to the castle, he had a sudden, sickening thought: what if Malfoy had something to do with her disappearance? After all, there was the rather large anonymous donation, one that few in Britain could afford to make. Deciding he had to determine if this was the case, he walked back toward the gates and Disapparated to France.

Walking up the drive to the chateau, he realized that it looked as deserted as it had last summer. This high in the Alps, the weather was much colder than it had been at Hogwarts, and he wished he had thought to bring a heavier cloak. Closing in on the chateau, he did not feel the familiar chill he would have expected when crossing through a protective ward.

It was possible that Malfoy had left shortly after the visit he and Aurelia had paid him last summer. After all, what reason did Malfoy have to trust Severus? Quick exploration of the chateau showed that it had been deserted for some time. This made it more likely that Malfoy had left last summer, but Severus still could not shake the feeling that Malfoy had something to do with Aurelia's absence. Unfortunately, he had no idea where to begin looking for them.

Deciding that the school could survive without its deputy headmaster until Monday morning, he resolved to begin a search. He knew that Malfoy would have needed help getting Aurelia out of Britain, since his very entry into the country would bring a horde of Aurors descending upon him. Therefore, he decided to start his search at some of the more unsavory wizarding establishments on the Continent. It would take time, but he hoped to discover at least some hint of Malfoy's location.

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

Aurelia lay on the bed, curled up with her pillow. Her captors had ignored her once she had refused her help. She had been given nothing to eat or drink and was thankful her room had a lavatory, or she would be suffering from dehydration. The ever-present rumble of her stomach was hard to ignore. Even though she was utterly exhausted, it would not let her sleep.

After two days without food, she was seriously contemplating giving in to Malfoy's request, but she knew that Severus had to be looking for her. He would find her and capture Malfoy. He just had to. She found she could no longer hold back the tears. Never before had she been in such a seemingly hopeless situation. And if something happened to her, what would become of her two girls?

When the door opened, she sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

Malfoy crossed the room, pulled out a handkerchief, and sat beside her to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "Now, now, my dear. There is nothing to cry about," he said in a soothing voice. "You can be quite comfortable here; you need only cooperate." He rubbed her arm gently, in a reassuring manner.

She tried to pull away from him, but his grip on her arm was too tight. "That won't happen."

"So you keep saying. You are quite stubborn, but I believe you will come to see reason in time. I know that you probably isolate yourself in your medical world, so I thought I would enlighten you on how the business world functions. The Ministry would have you believe that everything is returning to normal, but it is not. Factories remain shuttered and unemployment remains high. And do you know why? Because there is no one with both the appropriate business acumen and capital to invest properly in the rebuilding of our world. I'm sure you've never realized it, but my industries employed ten percent of wizarding Britain's workforce. Many of those businesses remain closed even now. The Ministry cannot find buyers, and it cannot run those businesses due to a lack of capital. Without me, we will rely more and more on costly imported goods. The Ministry will be forced to lower tariffs. It will then become impossible for Britons to start their own companies. Even Gringotts has lost faith in British industry and is not granting loans as it once did. Do you want to be responsible for the downfall of our wizarding society? A society that your husband died protecting?"

For a few moments, she began to fall under the spell of his words before realizing what he was doing. She started crying again. "You monster! How dare you manipulate me?" She struggled to get away from him and beat at his chest, but it had no effect. He merely pulled her into a smothering embrace so she could no longer hit him.

"I am not manipulating you. I'm telling you the truth." He released her and with a snap of his fingers, he summoned a house-elf who was carrying a stack of newspapers. "You can read all about it in the Daily Prophet. Foreign newspapers are starting to report the same thing. There is more to the world than your potions, Aurelia. Open your eyes to it. I would think that as a Slytherin, you would appreciate that the world is not black and white." He left without saying another word.

For the next hour, Aurelia was able to resist looking at the papers. Finally, boredom and curiosity got the better of her, and she started flipping through them. Of course, the articles supported what Malfoy had told her, but she thought they could have easily been altered to report what he wanted her to believe. The articles in the rest of the papers looked genuine, but that didn't mean that these particular ones hadn't been forged. Figuring this was another way he was trying to manipulate her, she threw the papers aside and curled back up on the bed, wondering how much longer he would deny her food. He needed her alive, so he had to feed her eventually, didn't he?

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

Severus stepped into yet another dark and dingy tavern. Those that operated on the fringe of society preferred the darkness for the anonymity it afforded. It was late, and he could tell that the establishment was getting ready to close. Sidling up to the bar, he placed a sickle before him.

"Monsieur?"

"Do you speak English?"

"Oui. What may I do for you?"

"I'm looking for a friend. Another Englishman. He went into hiding last summer and has long blonde hair. He tends to think he is better than everyone else."

The bartender considered this description for several seconds. "No. No Englishman like that. We see few of you here."

Severus could tell that the man was not lying, and let him take the sickle. Exhausted from searching much of Western Europe, a weary Severus was forced to return to Hogwarts; he had class in a few hours. A dose of Invigoration Draught would help him get through the day. He would find Adrian before class and let the headmaster know that he needed to take a brief leave of absence. Today, he would rest after class, and tomorrow morning, he could continue on with his search. Eastern Europe should not be as difficult to search as the wizarding towns were closer together.

Entering the castle, he began making his way toward the dungeons, when a voice from the stairs above him stopped him.

"Severus! We need to talk," said Adrian before turning back towards the headmaster's study.

He had at least hoped to be able to take his potion and shower before having to meet with the headmaster. Obviously, his absence had not gone as unnoticed as he had wished.

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

Aurelia opened her eyes when she heard the door open. Malfoy was back, levitating a small tray before him. She sat up and began salivating, hoping that he would let her have the food.

Crossing the room, he set the tray on the bed, out of her reach, and sat next to her. "I see that you have read through the papers. Have you given thought to my plight?"

She kept eyeing the tray, wondering what was under the cover. "How do I know that's the truth? You could have easily forged the articles."

He slowly uncovered the tray, revealing an array of bite-sized foods. "For what purpose? I want to return home. I want to tell the truth."

Licking her lips in anticipation of finally getting to eat something, she asked, "What truth?" She started reaching for the tray.

Malfoy gently captured her hand. "You know that I cannot tell the truth now. Once you help me as you helped Severus, then I can. Is that so much to ask?" He kissed her fingers and she pulled her hand away. Reaching over to the tray, he picked up a strawberry and waved it in front of her mouth. "You want this, don't you?"

She could think of nothing other than the berry in Malfoy's fingers and chased after it. He finally let her have it. As she slowly chewed it, she savored the taste and feel of her first food in days. She tried to reach the tray, but he restrained her. "Please?"

"If you want more, you have to give me something in return."

***********

A/N: For those that may have questions about what Lucius wants, this is one plot point that has carried over from "Wounded" and I recommend you read/review that story. If you really don't want to read the other story and want to know, please contact me privately and I'll fill you in.

Thank you for your patience in waiting for this chapter. My muses are having a bout of ADD and keep throwing me new ideas. Thankfully, a number of these are one-shot fics, but they still take away from my time writing this story. If anyone knows how to wrangle plot bunnies and keep them from distracting my muses, please, let me know. LOL I normally like to have two stories going at any one time, but I have about four and as many one-shots that I'm working on.

Also, thank you so very much to those of you that have left reviews. They really mean the world to me. It's nice to hear that others are reading and enjoying the story. Concrit is always welcome.

A final thanks to nota and Zen Lady for their help in polishing up this chapter for posting. They always bring up such profound questions that keep me in line.

As for Chapter 9, I am discussing a few plot points with my betas. I have about 3 pages written out of somewhere in the vicinity of 10. I'm going to take a wild guess and estimate about two weeks before I'm ready with the next chapter, but please, don't hold me to that. If you are interested in updates, check out my livejournal - ltgarrix (dot) livejournal (dot) com - where I will try to post periodic updates on my writing status.