The Last Sanguimagus

The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall was a mass of ugly grey clouds, and Sarah felt it pressing down upon her. A headache thrummed behind her forehead. It had been a sleepless night, full of disturbing dreams, and she had finally gone walking in the castle in the early hours just to get away from her bed.

At least something productive had come from her lack of rest; she'd brought the statue down from the storage room into her office and cleaned it up.

She took another half-hearted bite of toast. She could not shake the feeling that it was going to be a difficult day. Her only class contained some of the Death Eaters' sons, and she was not looking forward to facing them again, especially since she was certain that at this point they knew what had happened on Sunday.

Silas had been droning on about House points to Minerva during most of breakfast. Sarah hadn't paid him any attention until he lowered his voice and mentioned Severus. She chanced a quick glance at them. Minerva looked angry and Sarah was a little surprised at the fire in her eyes.

"...but surely you must admit how dangerous he could be," said Silas. "A former Death Eater, teaching children...and stockpiling illegal substances! On the surface he looks exceedingly risky. I can't imagine that the Board of Governors will let him stay on much longer, not with the new rumors that have surfaced."

Aghast, Sarah let the toast fall to the plate. Severus, sacked?

"He's a liability," continued Silas. "I've heard how he bullies his students. He's a menace, Minerva, and he'll bring the school down with him."

"Severus has been a teacher here for many years," said Minerva, frowning. "His students have always scored very well on their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. Regardless of what he looks like on the surface, deep down he is committed to the right things. He is also my friend, and I don't wish to hear any more on this subject."

Silas murmured, "All I am suggesting is that he join the...other one in hiding. It would be safer, after all, both for him and for the Headmaster." Sarah could barely make out his words.

"That is not something I care to discuss at this moment," hissed Minerva, sounding furious.

"Very well, then. But I feel I must mention that nothing good can come of keeping him on as a teacher."

"You've made your point," said Minerva curtly, and went back to her breakfast, scowling.

Sarah had no idea who else would be hiding, or why. She stared at the toast on her plate for a long moment.

If Severus were to be fired, surely she would not be far behind.

She looked out at the students, watching as they chatted and joked and ate. It seemed astonishing that they were so carefree, consumed by study and Quidditch, when she could feel the danger of the real world surrounding the castle like a tangible thing.

Severus entered the hall, and his dark presence struck at her, almost like a well-placed curse. She could hear her own voice in her head saying I will kill anyone who gets in my way. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, trying not to think of his dead, black eyes.

"Are you well, Sarah?" asked Silas.

She reopened her eyes to see him staring at her. "Yes," she said. "A little...tired."

"You've gone absolutely chalky," said Minerva, sounding concerned. "Do you need me to find Poppy?"

"No, no," said Sarah. "I'm fine." She took another sip of tea to hide her discomfort.

There was a distinct drop in volume in the hall, and Sarah noticed that many of the Slytherin students were watching Severus, most looking outright mutinous. The expression on his face was cold and distant, except for his eyes, which glittered menacingly as he approached the High Table.

Minerva said something to him as he sat down, and he replied in a rough voice. Silas turned to Sarah. "It is quite interesting to me," he said quietly, "that you've managed to walk away from the Dark Lord's presence, alive. For a second time, in fact."

"Excuse me?" she said, frowning.

"It seems, frankly, preposterous," he said. "He's one of the most powerful wizards in our lifetime. Even Grindelwald--and I've seen Grindelwald in action, mind you--would have fallen before him."

She remained perfectly still. She was aware that he was watching her very closely. "I was lucky."

"Twice?" he said. "That's a rather impressive bit of luck, don't you think?"

"What exactly are you saying?" She met his gaze directly. She hoped that he did not have any skills in Legilimency.

He didn't look away. "It strikes me as unusual that you were able to walk up to the Dark Lord, take what you wanted, and leave."

"I...it was not as simple as that." Her face began to grow hot.

"But we don't know that," he said. "I wonder just what you promised, what you offered, to allow him to let you leave unscathed."

"You presume too much," she said, biting each word off precisely.

"Do I?" he said, stroking his goatee. "Do I really? I'm not certain. You willingly left the protection of Hogwarts, and went directly to the Dark Lord, and I must say I'm perplexed at how you found him so easily." His watery blue eyes were watching her keenly. "There is very little that would drive a person to voluntarily face him. I can think of few legitimate reasons."

"I did it because I was frightened for Severus," she snapped. "I did it because he is a brave man, and deserved a better fate than to be torn apart by those--savages." Looking past him, she realised that both Severus and Minerva were staring at her. She suddenly felt sick, and wished that no one knew what she had done. "Excuse me," she said angrily, standing up and putting her napkin on the table. "I must return to my office." She left the table, feeling angry and frightened.

***

"I overheard them talking about Snape," said Ron, sitting down next to Harry.

Hermione looked up from her book. "Who?"

"The Slytherins," he said. "I think they found out about him."

Harry speared a bit of egg on his fork, and craned his neck to look at the High Table, where Snape sat, staring past McGonagall at Marten and Tanner, who looked as if they were arguing. He looked back at his friends.

"What did they say?" asked Hermione.

"Something about him being a traitor," he said, beginning to fill up his plate. "There wasn't enough time to unroll an Extendable Ear."

Harry watched as Professor Tanner walked past the Slytherin table. Malfoy stared at Tanner with a look of anger on his face. "They must know that Tanner helped him," he said. Ron shrugged and began to eat. Hermione looked lost in thought.

"You've been saying you'll tell us what's going on," said Ginny, "but you never seem to get around to it."

"We still don't have a...quiet place to meet," answered Hermione.

"I think we do," said Harry. Hermione looked at him quizzically.

***

The day had been tense so far. Severus knew the entire Slytherin table was watching him as he walked out of the Great Hall. His first class had been relatively quiet, but the class before lunch had contained Slytherins, and he had seen anger plainly on a few faces.

He walked through the entrance hall, and he thought anew of his now-unblemished forearm. The faint warmth that had returned with the Dark Lord's rebirth had cooled. For years he had woken in the night, dreaming that the Mark had returned, and breathing in relief when it hadn't. But he had known it was inevitable, that one day it would turn black and reveal itself, forcing him to return to the Dark Lord's side. That his nightmare had ended and that he was still alive was almost impossible to believe.

At the top of the stairs to the dungeon he hesitated. There were essays to mark, potion ingredients to organise, but for some reason he didn't want to return. The private cupboard in his office was a disaster, and he dreaded looking at it, knowing how much it would rankle to see so many precious ingredients gone, so many possibilities now closed.

It also bothered him that he would never again receive a private message from Lucius, as he often did on Tuesdays, having no class during the afternoon. There would never be another invitation to Malfoy Manor. He would never again enjoy the company of Lucius Malfoy, or see the icy beauty of Narcissa.

He didn't want to go to the staffroom, either, to endure the looks and whispering of the other staff.

Before he had even clearly thought of it, he was striding towards Sarah's office. He knocked on her door and then opened it.

She looked up in surprise from her desk, which had several items scattered about on it. Her hands were bloody. "Ah, Severus, I wasn't expecting anyone," she said, looking distracted.

He closed the door behind him and then approached her desk, trying to tamp down the slight wave of revulsion from seeing her blood. Bits of shell, silk cord, and chain were scattered about. A grey gemstone the size of his thumb sat next to a tiny mother-of-pearl button. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to make a new amulet," she said, looking discouraged.

"A new amulet?"

"The amulet I used to wear was...handed over to one of the Death Eaters when I exchanged myself for the students a month ago."

He sat down on the couch. "I see," he said quietly.

"It was a rather potent one. I wish I still had it. Now that I am here at Hogwarts, I no longer have access to the raw materials I need to create another of the same caliber," she said. She absently poked at a blob of silver on her desk with her short wand. "And I find it a bit more challenging to concentrate now."

"Because you aren't using the Painstone," he said.

"Yes." He noticed the dark circles under her eyes, and her unusual paleness. "I've been thinking," she said slowly, "about your potions case...the one that was left behind when...when I...the other day. The potions...were there many poisons in the case?"

He had been thinking that day of the very same thing, truth be told. "Yes, but they'll find the labels rather difficult to decipher."

"Your shorthand," she said wonderingly.

"Yes," he said, smirking. "A few of the healing potions are rather easy to pick out, as are a few of the harmful potions, but many others look identical and yet have opposite results. Only another potion maker will be able to identify some of the vials, and it could take months."

"There was a potion maker in Poland," she said haltingly.

"The source for your Strengthening Solution."

"Yes." She looked worried. "He's the one who told the Dark Lord about me, while I was in hiding. I was barely able to escape Poland...that's when I knew I had to find Dumbledore. If he's still working with the Dark Lord...he'll be certain to analyse your potions, and..." She took a deep breath. "The antidote you made for me...you don't think he could reconstruct the original potion from it, do you? You said that the Granger girl wouldn't be able to, but she is just a student. He is an experienced brewer."

"There is a chance that he could somehow put the potion together," he said, thinking. "But there is an ingredient involved that is nearly impossible to procure."

"I don't think...I couldn't bear it, again. Not ever. If he ever possessed it again, I would..." She trailed off, and he could see the fear in her eyes.

"He would need a section of Lethifold flesh, prepared in an exacting method," he said. "But it's almost impossible to obtain. It was only through Lucius's connections at the Ministry that I had access to it, and I used all they had."

Some of the fright diminished, but she still looked unsure. "To be free of pain," she murmured, "and to be able to move without hindrance...I feel like I have a new life."

He only nodded, uncertain of what to say. They both sat in silence for several moments.

She sighed and spelled the blood off her hands. Flicking her wand a few times, she sent most of the items on her desk back into an open wooden box. The blob of silver remained seated in a small pool of blood, and she stared at it critically.

"Is it supposed to look like that?" he asked.

"No," she said wearily. "It was originally shaped like a bird, but my concentration wavered and I ended up crushing it."

"You look as if you haven't slept well," he said. He was surprised to see something flickering rather strongly in her eyes, something that resembled his own face, with dead, staring eyes. "Nightmares?"

"Yes," she said, nearly inaudibly. "Nightmares."

Her fatigue, her words at the table earlier...he felt somehow almost protective of her, and to see her so worn and stressed made him uncomfortable. "I know that you've refused them before, but I have a potion that would help," he said. Instead of declining outright, as she had, she looked at him with a glimmer of hope. "It is a modified version of the Draught of the Living Death, and it will give you an entire night's rest with no dreams. It's extremely powerful. I wouldn't recommend taking it often, but it might be of help to you."

"I think--I think I'd like that," she said haltingly.

"I'll retrieve it from my office." It took only a moment for him to head down the stairs to his private cupboard and find the vial. Upon returning to her, he noticed an odd statue sitting on a pedestal near the door. "What's this?" he said, curious.

"Hmm? Oh, a statue I found in a storeroom." She turned the bit of silver over in her hand and looked at it closely. "I thought I'd put it out in the corridor after I cast a few spells on it."

"What kind of spells?"

"Watching spells," she murmured.

"Are you worried that something might happen?"

"Yes," she said. "I've attacked several of the students' fathers. I doubt that fact has gone unnoticed. I'm not as worried about the younger students, but some are nearly adults. The Dark Lord is powerful once again. He's drawing new followers, I have no doubt of that, and I am certain he'll pull a few of the students to his side."

"As much as I would like to believe that none of them will attempt to cause harm, there's always that possibility," he said. He paused for a moment, watching her spell the blood off the surface of the desk and put down the piece of silver. "Here's the potion," he said, handing her the vial. "It acts almost instantly, so I would recommend lying down first. It should provide eight hours of sleep, though, in your case, it would be wise to factor in another hour or two."

"Then I should take it now," she said. "Thank you, Severus." She stood up slowly and walked to the door leading into her private room, opening it with one hand. Stripping off her robe with a bit of difficulty, she pushed the covers back and got in bed.

"It appears that you need more Scar Reducing Salve," he said, frowning.

"I suppose I do," she said, pulling out the cork. "I hadn't thought about it."

"What you told Silas this morning," he said quietly. "Was that why you went after...why you faced the Dark Lord?"

She looked at him, her pale eyes filled with a jangle of emotions. "Among other things," she said in a soft voice. Lifting the vial to her lips, she drained it, and was asleep almost immediately, her brown hair dark against the pillow.

He stood and watched her, the lines of worry and fear slowly stealing away from her face as she relaxed into unnatural sleep, and he felt something finally give inside of him that he hadn't known was there.