Summoned

Chapter 37: In and Out

August 9, 1995, night

"Snape flitted in and out of the house several times more... [Harry] also caught a glimpse of his Transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall, looking very odd in a Muggle dress and coat, though she seemed too busy to linger..."

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

"Severus," Minerva said very quietly, "did you have something else to report?"

Severus Snape was standing in the kitchen, at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, his back to the door, his clothing looking just a bit haphazard, as if he'd put everything on while he'd been flying to the house. His eyes were calm, which Minerva took to be a good sign. He had a wand in his hand, but Minerva could see it was not his: he had taken someone else's wand, which probably wasn't a very good sign.

"Yes," the man said. His eyes were not quite focusing. Molly Weasley and Remus were the only others in the room right now, but Minerva knew the students from Hogwarts were keeping an eye on every person's coming and going, and news of Professor Snape's sudden appearance had to have reached them all by now.

She wondered fleetingly where Sirius was, as he was probably the one person they most needed to not appear in the kitchen at this moment.

Dumbledore had sent his Patronus to Hogwarts to tell her that Severus had left the hospital without anyone knowing it. Remus had sent his Patronus to tell her he had found the Potions master at Grimmauld Place. She had sent her Patronus to Dumbledore, who had been called to the Ministry to meet with Fudge, to inform him obliquely of her trip to London, and as she stood here now, speaking as calmly as she could, she could hear voices outside the front door.

"Potter," Severus said, his eyes narrowing. "He's - where is Potter?"

"He's quite safe, Severus," Minerva said softly.

"Severus," Remus tried, moving slowly toward the man, "you got us word in time. Harry is safe. - Come on, let's go-"

The wizard raised his wand and aimed it dangerously in Remus' direction.

"Severus!" Molly said with a familiar, maternally-chiding voice. "Put that wand down now! Here! Have you had supper yet?" She stepped forward and shoved a plate of sandwiches into Snape's chest. It caught him off-guard and his wand hand faltered just long enough for Remus to grab the stick and for Minerva to step closer.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she hissed, her command whispered into the room to keep from attracting the attention of the other residents.

Remus sighed with relief. Molly grabbed the man as he wavered and planted him on the bench next to the table, then sat next to him and let him lean on her so he wouldn't fall over. His eyes were glassy and he seemed to have lost all muscle tone. Despite her best attempts, Molly lost the battle to keep him sitting there and he sagged sideways, and then forward.

Lupin and Minerva caught him and eased him to the floor. Severus' eyes had closed. "He's unconscious," Remus said.

"We can't float him out," Minerva said. "The children know he's here, we can't - they can't see him like this-" And now that Molly knew Severus hadn't returned to Hogwarts, Minerva feared the news was bound to get out.

"No, dears, here, come this way." Molly had risen and was beckoning them toward the far end of the kitchen. "There's a back door."

Sighing with relief, Minerva conjured a stretcher and they got Severus onto it. Then she and Remus together sent it out the door ahead of them.

"Molly," Remus said, turning back quickly, "no one knows..."

She smiled and patted his arm. "Of course. Now, you just take him back, and I'll get finished with dinner."

Minerva was quite sure from the glimmer in her eye that she knew Severus wasn't returning to the school tonight. And she was equally sure that the mother of seven had no intention of mentioning anything about this to anyone.

* * *

"What is that you're wearing?" Remus asked, once they had gotten Severus settled back in his room at St. Mungo's. Minerva had sent her Patronus to Dumbledore, who was either at the Ministry or back at the school, to let him know what had happened, and now, as she and Remus sat in the hallway outside Severus' room, he allowed himself a grin at the clothing she had donned.

"Well, since we spent a bit too long outside Grimmauld Place last time, I thought Muggle clothing might be a wise choice," she explained, her voice cool and distant.

Remus wasn't sure the paisley cardigan and orange and green striped dress would really blend in with the Muggle world, but they hadn't had to find out. They'd gotten Severus back to the hospital before he'd regained consciousness, had given Parton back his wand, and were now waiting outside the room for Healers Galen and Smethwyck to let them know Severus' condition.

It was several long minutes more before the door opened, but when Galena met Remus' eyes she managed a smile and a small nod. "He'll be alright," she told them, putting her wand up her sleeve and simultaneously pulling out her pipe. Behind her, Hippocrates Smethwyck closed the door to the room and then whispered something to her. She nodded and lit her pipe with a flame she conjured at the tip of her finger.

"He had a small incident," she told them. "But he should be fine by tomorrow. Mr. Lupin, you will be back?"

Minerva turned, did a small double-take, and said, "Remus?"

He felt his face growing warm. "Yes, I'll - I'll be back. What sort of 'incident' was that? Is it going to happen again?"

"Oh, well, we'll be keeping a much closer eye on him now," Galena said, evasively puffing on the pipe. Blue smoke began to rise from the bowl.

"What - sort of incident?" he asked again. Minerva had stood and, not liking to be the only one sitting, he stood as well.

The Healer puffed for a few minutes, then took out her pipe and tilted her head. "A memory break-through," she said.

"What's that?" Minerva demanded.

"One of the Charms we placed - he broke through it. But not completely. He - he thought he was somewhere else. He was looking for the Potter boy..."

"Yes, we know that. Where - how did he -"

"He was trying to warn Professor Dumbledore that Potter was in some danger. It was a memory we'd Charmed, because it was-" she paused and wrinkled her forehead, " - hemorrhaging."

Remus waited and so did Minerva. And finally, Galena sighed and took off her spectacles and narrowed her gaze. "Something besides the mental and emotional attacks has happened to him, but I don't know what caused it," she said. "His brain - there's bleeding in the brain itself."

Remus glanced quickly, guiltily at Minerva, then back at the Healer. "There were several uses of the Cruciatus," he said quietly. "And - at least one use of the Imperius."

"And then the Blood-Letting Potion he had to take," Minerva added.

The healer pulled her pipe out. It hung in mid-air as she looked from one to the other, then back at Remus. "Blood-Letting Potion?"

He summarized the incident of Severus being forced to drink the poison as briefly as he could. The woman was quite angry when he finished. "Why didn't anyone tell me about this before?"

"I thought Professor Dumbledore had," Remus said.

Galena took long, serious puffs from her pipe before she said anything else. "Well, there's no permanent damage," she finally told them. He felt Minerva relax a bit next to him. "But it's causing us a lot of trouble. The Memory Charms..." her voice faded off. "I'll need to talk with the other members of our team," she said, almost to herself. Then she looked at Remus, quite sharply. "You'll be here tomorrow morning at ten?"

He didn't really think it was a question: he nodded, wondering how much longer he could keep Sirius from suspecting what he was doing when he left Grimmauld Place.

"Professor McGonagall, are you in a position to take a message to Professor Dumbledore?"

"Of course," the woman answered coolly.

"Please ask him to join us tomorrow morning at ten o'clock. - Good evening." And she turned without another word, and left.

* * * August 10 1995, morning

Dumbledore didn't need a cloak to be invisible. At 9:30 the next morning, he slipped unseen into St. Mungo's Hospital and made his way to the fourth floor. He paused at the corner of the hallway to Room 417 and the top of the staircase that led to it, and waited until the four apprentices, two journeymen, and Master of Potions for the hospital had left the wing, then went to the room that housed his own Potions master.

Professor Snape was propped upright on his bed, but his eyes were closed. Nevertheless, Dumbledore knew the moment he entered that the man was awake.

"Severus," he whispered after the door had closed. He went to the side of the bed and then sat on the edge and took Severus' hand. The man opened his eyes and as soon as he focused, his lips parted and he tried to speak. It took several seconds before he could actually form words, though.

"Potter - safe?"

Dumbledore smiled and nodded. "Yes, Severus, Harry is safe. You did very well."

"Tried - to warn - not in time..." The man's voice drifted off and his eyes shut in pain. Then his body began to cramp, his fingers gripped Dumbledore's in a spasm, and for nearly a minute the Headmaster could do nothing but wait until the seizure passed.

"Severus, you did everything you needed to do," he whispered. "You got word to the Order in time. Harry is at Headquarters. He's safe. You did your job."

The man was beginning to sweat and his eyes shut and he flung his head back. His hair, unwashed for the past couple days and definitely very greasy, fell across his face and Dumbledore pushed it out of the way.

"Relax," he ordered, and placed his hand over the man's eyes, whispering an ancient incantation that finally seemed to ease the man's torment. "You've done well. But you need to heal. - I need you, Severus. I need you."

He squeezed the man's hand once more, then let it go and left him to return to sleep.

"My boy," he whispered, sadly.

* * *

At ten a.m., Remus, Albus and the two Healers, plus Parton, who was looking a bit tired, all gathered in the six-walled office. Galena Galen was looking unhappily at Dumbledore, a look Remus would never have had the courage to shoot the great wizard.

"A Blood-Letting Potion?" she demanded. They were all seated in quite a civilized manner around tea, but the tension was thick and only barely civilized, and Remus almost felt like choking on it. "Anything else he took that you've neglected to tell me?"

Dumbledore merely sighed. "Severus told me he was completely healed from that."

"He isn't, not by a long shot. There are hemorrhages in his brain that are interfering with the Memory Charms. And now that I knew what to look for, there's some damage to his kidneys as well. - What else has he been subjected to this summer?"

Dumbledore ran his thumbnail along the pads of his fingers and spoke without looking at anyone. "He took a Befuddlement Draught the same night he was forced to take the Blood-Letting Potion. It seemed they reacted badly with each other. He didn't stop bleeding. So - for a day a half, he took Draught of Living Death while Professor Lupin watched over him."

"A day and a half?" Smethwyck interjected. "Solid?"

"In twelve-hour periods," Lupin supplied. "He took three doses." Then he decided to shrink back into the upholstery.

Smethwyck and Galena exchanged unhappy looks, then the woman turned back to Dumbledore. "What else?"

Dumbledore took a long, tired breath. "Various Strengthening Solutions. Some Calming Draughts. Possibly some Dreamless Sleep."

"He's been self-medicating?"

"He's had no choice, Healer Galen," Dumbledore snapped. "He has had to answer the Summons every time it was given or he would have been killed. He has done what he had to to stay alive. Even now, if he is Summoned again-"

"I know," she cut him off, waving her pipe in his direction. "Do you have samples of the Blood-Letting Potion? And the Befuddlement Draught?"

Dumbledore glanced quickly at Remus, who shrugged. "I can go look. I don't know if he has any left."

Galena nodded, then tuned to the apprentice. "Parton, are you making any progress?"

"I thought some," the boy answered. "But I didn't know to look so deeply. I will as soon as we're done here. I'll take the Touch to the next level."

Galena nodded and then exchanged looks with Smethwyck. "Any ideas?"

The older man finished his tea and then turned to Dumbledore. "You were working on restoring his Occlumency with the use of Legilimency?"

The Headmaster nodded. "And some use of the Deletrius."

Smethwyck pursed his lips. "I think we should slow down the rate at which we're placing the Charms," he suggested. "No more than two a day until we're finished."

"Agreed," Galena said. She turned to Remus. "I'd appreciate it if you could get me samples of every potion or draught he's taken since he was first Summoned. Everything! I imagine he makes the potions for your infirmary?" Remus and Dumbledore both nodded. "Each potion maker has his own signature, his own particular art to making potions. I need everything he's made and used on himself so that I can analyze the potions. Is there anyone who knows exactly what he's taken and when and how much?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "No. As you said, he's been medicating himself as he's felt the need for the last few weeks. Whatever he needed to keep himself going."

She looked seriously unhappy, Remus thought, and so did Smethwyck. But there was nothing more either he or the Headmaster could do.

"What did you mean about taking the Touch to the next level?" Dumbledore asked, addressing his question to Parton.

"Oh, the Tactus Curiatus, sir. It has many levels. The only one I've been using is that which helps diminish physical pain. But there are deeper levels that can help with mental and psychic pain, as well."

"And - Severus is cooperative with this?" the Headmaster asked.

Parton smiled and looked a bit embarrassed. "Well, as long as he isn't quite conscious, yes, sir. Though he seems to be afraid of being touched when he's aware of his surroundings."

Dumbledore turned to Galena and then to Smethwyck. "Human contact hasn't usually been pleasant for him," he explained. Lupin glanced at his lap, understanding much more of what Dumbledore had said than he would have a year ago. The two Healers nodded, but said nothing.

Sensing that their meeting was over, Remus stood and headed for the door.

"Everything you can find, Professor Lupin," Galena called out.

* * * August 10, 1995, afternoon

The door to Grimmauld Place did not open when he tapped his wand on the doorknob. He tried again, and again he remained locked out. Cursing under his breath, he tried an incantation to break the seal on the door, and finally it swung open.

The hallway was dark, the torches along the walls unlit. There was noise coming from the kitchen, and other sounds from upstairs. Pulling his traveling hood over his face, he made his way down the hall, puzzled. There should be light. There should be people. The meeting room should be bustling...

"Oh! Uh, Professor Snape!" Molly looked as if she'd seen a ghost. Had she? Severus wondered. He still had his wand out, and he thought he should keep it out, though he wasn't sure why.

"Mrs. Weasley," he said, finding it hard to make the words sound right. "I - is Professor Dumbledore - here?"

"Uh, no, Professor, he's-"

"A meeting - there's - supposed to be a - meeting - here. I have - news..." Molly's face began to swim and then it mutated into the Dark Lord's face and he brought his wand up, fast, because he didn't know how the Dark Lord had done it, but he had killed Molly Weasley and taken her place...

"Snape! What the hell? Expelli-"

Black's curse was too late. Soundlessly, Severus turned his wand to the intruder and wordlessly Stunned him, knocking him off his feet, his wand flying through the air and landing near the fireplace.

"Severus!" The person in front of him looked like Molly Weasley again, but now he wasn't sure who it was. He aimed his wand at - it - and narrowed his gaze.

"Where is Dumbledore? What have you done to him?"

"No- nothing, Professor, really. Here. Have a ginger newt, won't you?"

She reached for something on the table, but even though the plate looked as if it held only cookies, the moment she touched it they turned into snakes, writhing, crawling up her arm, and Voldemort's snake-like face was leering at him, and he saw the tongues flickering out, twisting around the Dark Lord's cheeks and eyes, and then blood was coming out the eyes and Severus felt his stomach erupt with fire and he vomited on the floor and the snakes slithered out of his mouth and began to lick the floor and...

"Stupefy!"

He felt the world fading back out again, felt himself falling, the snakes were gathering, they were crawling on him, and then his mother grabbed him and yelled, "Crucio!" and his body was engulfed in pain and darkness...

* * *

"How did he get out?" Molly was shaking and her knees had given way and she sank to the bench behind her while Sirius conjured a cup of tea for her. Lupin and Dumbledore, having cleaned up the vomit, were kneeling on the floor next to the once-more unconscious Potions master, and behind them, Galena Galen was cursing and muttering to herself and Healer Smethwyck was looking on with intense puzzlement.

Alerted that, once more, despite their added security, Severus had somehow managed to break out of St. Mungo's undetected, Remus had suggested they check Headquarters before they wasted time going through the rest of the hospital. His suggestion had been dead on, but unfortunately, this time, Sirius had walked in on the scene.

"What in the hell is going on?" he demanded, pocketing the wand he'd picked up from the hearth. "What is wrong with him?"

"He's - not well, Sirius," Lupin said, despising every second that Snape lay there under his friend's hateful gaze. "Healer Galen? There's - a back door."

Smethwyck conjured another stretcher and the Healers took Severus from the house. Lupin and Dumbledore faced the confused and angry Sirius and Molly.

"He - I don't think he recognized me," Molly said, sounding a bit steadier after drinking half the tea. "Professor, what happened to him?"

"He's nutters!" Sirius proclaimed. "Snape's finally gone 'round the bend! He's mad!"

"No, he's not!" Remus placed a hand on his friend's arm. "He was - exposed to something when he was Summoned last. He's - it's a reaction to a potion Voldemort had."

Dumbledore stood stock still, not contradicting the lie. Remus glanced at Molly and she turned away. She was quite shaken, he realized, but he was pretty sure she knew that he wasn't telling the truth.

"What kind of - 'potion'?" Sirius asked, not believing either.

"We don't know," Dumbledore said, moving closer and giving Molly a hand standing. He let his gaze linger on her for a moment, and Remus saw the woman gather herself together and take a deep breath. She was, he thought, an amazing and highly underrated woman.

"He's gone mad!" Sirius repeated.

"He's not mad!" Dumbledore barked. "Please try to contain your joy, Sirius. Severus is a valuable member of the Order and at the moment he's ill. We're doing what we can for him. Please do not let this go any further!"

As usual, Dumbledore's orders brooked no argument and he heaved a long, heavy sigh and then turned to Remus. "If you could - do what Galena requested? I have to be at the Ministry in ten minutes."

Remus nodded, wishing he could leave with Dumbledore, but knowing he needed to stay and stem the sudden flow of overt, malicious glee coming from his friend's bitter heart.

"A potion?" Sirius laughed, striding through the kitchen, then turning to Molly. "You don't believe that, do you?" He looked at Remus. "Try again!"

"Severus has been tortured all summer. He-"

"Oh, please! Not you, too! Poor, poor Severus, what a terrible summer he's had! What did he do, Remus, give you Amortentia again, like he did when we were sixteen?"

"Severus never -"

"Excuse me," Molly Weasley said, standing between them and looking irate. "If you two - gentlemen - are going to have a discussion of this type, please find a place to do it privately! Out! Out, both of you!"

Thoroughly chastised, Remus left the kitchen and Sirius followed, his eyes still burning with anger.

"He's been here, in London, hasn't he?" Sirius demanded. "At St. Mungo's? Ever since the last meeting."

Remus met his glare. "Yes."

"And you've been visiting him!" Sirius snarled.

"Yes. And trying to find someone to make my potion. I didn't lie about that."

Sirius shook his head and in a heartbeat, the fury in his eyes left and was replaced with sadness. A deep, profound sadness. "I never thought it of you, Remus. I never thought you'd turn."

"Turn? Sirius-"

"The last friend I had," Sirius continued. "And now you're his mate instead! Just like... Well, go ahead! Cozy up to Snivellus! See where you end up!" Without waiting for a response, Sirius pushed past him, knocking against his shoulder as he did, and went up the stairs two-at-a-time, heedless of the audience above.

The students of Hogwarts dissipated as Sirius stormed through their midst, and even Harry backed away.

Remus stood there for a few seconds and knew he couldn't say anything to Sirius in the mood the man was in. All he could do was hope his friend didn't do something rash.

He went back into the kitchen and found Molly stirring spaghetti sauce manually on the stove. He watched her for a second and realized that there were probably a number of forms of Tactus Curiatus, one of which involved a deep pot of food and a lot of careful stirring.

"Molly."

She turned and wiped a tear from her cheek, startled that he was back.

"I'm sorry, I -" he started.

"Why can't they let it go?" she whispered to him. "Isn't there enough hatred in the world without them adding to it?"

He took a couple steps and put his arm around her shoulders. She laid her head against him for a moment and he said, "Yes, there is. And - I don't know why they have to hate each other. But they do." He pulled back. "I have to go," he told her. "I'll be at Hogwarts tonight. And - Molly, you won't say anything to-"

"To anyone," the woman chirped. She twitched her nose a bit and then took a long breath and smiled at him. "Thank you, Remus. - Be careful."

* * *

He was drifting again, and he didn't like that. He wasn't here, he wasn't there, he wasn't really anywhere, and he was too much nowhere and then he found himself in a "there" that hurt and he screamed out in protest, someone was in his mind, someone was looking for his memories, for his pain, his helplessness, someone was hurting him, he was only six and Tobias was screaming and throwing things and his mother was hiding in her bedroom and he tried to run into the room after her but Tobias caught him and threw him back into the living room, into the fireplace, and the flames licked him and burned his back and he screamed again and then his mother waved her wand and it all went away...

He opened his eyes and that man was there again, the one with the kind eyes and graying blond hair, the one who took his hand and said, "How are you feeling, Severus?" The one who knew him. And then he remembered the man turned into a monster...

No, no, he was the monster, Severus Snape was a monster, he called Lily a Mudblood, he let Mulciber jinx her friends, he was a monster, his arm burned, the tattoo throbbed and he cried out and tried to get away but he couldn't move, he couldn't sit up, he went away again...

"Your arm, Severus," Tom Riddle hissed the words, but already he was changed, he was different, he had been playing with Dark, Dark Magic, and he wasn't the same Lord Voldemort Severus had first met, had first fallen idealistically and intellectually in love with, he was hungry now, Tom Riddle wanted Severus' power, wanted his strength, his mind...

The creature in the Shack roared at him and he found Potter and grabbed him, covered him with his own body, he felt the claws slice open his back, his shoulders, his buttocks, and then he was stumbling from the Shack and Potter was ahead of him, and he stumbled on a root and Potter turned and grabbed him and shoved him forward...

And the roaring sounds filled his ears and he heard the horrible torment, the pain, the creature in the Shack was alone, he was so alone, so horribly alone, he was crying out in pain, and no one was there for him and he knew he couldn't help the creature, he would die if he tried...

And Dumbledore told him, even as they went to the hospital for his own wounds, that he must never tell anyone what he had seen, he must never tell Lupin's secret, he must...

Never tell...

Never tell...

"We'll hang the moon tonight,

"It will be alright.

He was dancing, the sad song was playing on the wireless...

"I will never tell,

"I will never tell..."

For her...

"You'll never tell, will you, Severus," Lucius whispered in his ear and he shivered and curled into a tight ball and felt Lucius' tongue flicker on his ear, and he cried...

... and then he was grown and Lucius had no wand and Severus had to know, now, right now, where the Dark Lord was, and he sliced his own soul in half and yelled, "Crucio!" and Malfoy writhed and struggled and moaned, and finally he heard the words, "Godric's Hollow," and he Disapparated and he got there too late...

The house was nearly destroyed and James was on the first floor, his body unmarked, the Avada Kedavra curse still cloying through the air and he raced up the stairs and found the nursery and Lily's eyes were open in horror, her body stiff, the book he'd given her for the baby on the floor...

But the baby was gone, he couldn't find her son... He had lost, he had lost everything, everything, he was lost, he would burn in hell, but there was no hell, there was only the empty room, the smoke, the empty crib...

He screamed and screamed and screamed...

* * *August 10, 1995, early evening

The door to Professor Snape's room opened and a tall man with long, blonde hair looked in. "Excuse me," he said, "I'm a friend of Severus Snape. Can he have visitors?"

Parton had just gotten his patient to stop screaming, and he wasn't sure about this stranger. He sent a quicksilver tendril of thought toward the man, trying to discern his motives. The impressions that returned to him were of a certain fondness, even a liking. So he nodded.

"Please, sir," he said, moving away from the bed, "he's had a hard day. - Are you from Hogwarts?"

"Yes," the blonde said, his voice quiet and silky and his cool grey eyes very focused on the man in the bed. "Yes, we've been friends for decades. I - I just learned he was ill."

Parton stood from the side of the bed and made a little bow, a left-over from his mother's heritage. "I'll leave you alone, sir. - My name is Parton, sir. If you need anything, please let me know."

The blonde man's smile seemed wrong. Parton had very little besides his instincts to go on, but the reading he'd gotten from the man's mind and the smile he gave just now didn't agree.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," the apprentice said, and backed out of the room with the deference his mother would have shown, not sure why he did it. He was, after all, an apprentice at St. Mungo's, and a true half-blood, worthy of the name.

But in the presence of that man, he felt himself nothing more than a house-elf.

* * *

"Severus. The Dark Lord has sent me to find out why you ignored the last Summons. Show me what is wrong."

Lucius, his enemy, pressed his fingers against Severus' eyes, pressed down on them, hard, then pressed his other hand against Severus' wrist. He tried to scream, he tried to beg for help, but he couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he couldn't think...

"Ah," Lucius murmured. And then he cast a spell that engulfed Severus with peace and pleasure. "Our Lord will be pleased to know you've given nothing away, Severus. - And you still owe me your life."

The pleasure swept over him, it was strong and deep and he felt his body rising to greet it...

* * *

Parton sat outside the room on the bench in the hallway. He closed his eyes and extended himself, feeling the air around him, feeling the magic that swirled through the air.

He had felt friendship at first, but now, as he sat outside, he felt something evil, malevolent, something angry and hostile. He got up and opened the door and saw the princely-looking blonde man standing over his patient, wand drawn.

"Sir, excuse me, but -"

It didn't occur to Parton to draw his own wand; he hadn't thought he'd need it. But then he heard the "Crucio!" and he dove out of the way, and the curse merely skimmed him. He drew his wand and pulled himself up and yelled, "Stupefy!" but by the time he had done that the blonde man had vanished.

Struggling through the remnants of the Cruciatus Curse, he staggered to the bed and saw Professor Snape's eyes shut tightly, his hands clenched, every muscle in his body tightened in pain.

Parton took a deep breath and sat on the bed and put his hands on either side of the man's chest. "Professor," he whispered, "I am sorry. Protego..." The spell, in combination with his hands, began to ease the spasms. He moved his hands a bit lower, touching the man's stomach on both sides. "Protego," the boy whispered again, and Professor Snape began to breathe more easily, more regularly.

Parton put his hands on the man's fists and whispered the enchantment again, and once more, the man relaxed into the healing spell.

"Oh, sir, I am so sorry. He - I saw friendship in his mind," he whispered. It wouldn't matter, though. He knew he had failed, he had let someone attack his patient, he had been lax in his duties, he would be dismissed from St. Mungo's.

"Who," Professor Snape whispered.

"Sir?"

"Who - are - you?"

"Sir, I am Apprentice Parton, sir. I am - I failed you, sir. I left Mr. Malfoy alone with you, and I did not know he was your enemy until too late."

Professor Snape opened his eyes. They were bloodshot, swollen, as if he'd been crying. "No. - You," the man gasped. "Who - are - you?"

"Sir, I am Apprentice Parton, sir. I am-"

"No!" Professor Snape yelled. "Tell me - about - who - you are."

He was gripping Parton's hand desperately, his nails digging into the flesh of the young apprentice.

"Sir. I am Parton. My father is Mellifluous Argent, a powerful wizard from a Pure-Blood family. My mother is Testimenta, a house-elf." He paused, but Professor Snape was not interrupting and his eyes were fixed on his. "They - my parents fell in love. My father freed my mother, and they married. Then I was born, sir. We - my family moved to France and - they opened a school for house-elves. We are - we hope to free many house-elves in England, sir."

He waited and his patient lay back, gasping for air, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, as if there were something there he could see, something that would help him.

"I - am - the Half-Blood Prince," he said finally, and Parton nodded and took the man's hand.

"Yes, sir." And when the man sank back against his pillows and his breathing deepened, Parton put a hand on the man's forehead and whispered, "Somnus."

... "Lily," he called out. If she heard him, she wasn't responding. He ran up to her. "Lily? Lily, please, just look at me. Please, let me - please talk to me?" She wasn't listening to him. He moved in front of her. "Lily, please! Please, look at me! Please, just - look at me!"

She ignored him. She didn't see him, she didn't hear him. She saw Potter in the distance and waved to him. Then she started running toward him.

"Lily! LILY!" He ran after her, but he couldn't catch her.

She grabbed Potter and he swung her around and she laughed and he kissed her...

"Please! Look at me! Lily! - Forgive me! Please, forgive me," he whispered.

She vanished. And nothing else mattered.

Except the life of her son.

"Lily," he whispered. "Look at me."

-30-