Severus & Lucius

Snape rises and dresses silently, then slips out of the room unnoticed. Their laughter follows him and he smiles faintly as he steps into the kitchen. He washes his hands and dries them, then pulls out three pans and begins preparation for lunch. Malfoy enters the kitchen as Snape opens the fridge and asks him if he would like anything in particular. Malfoy tells him he's feeling like something sweet, when there's a sound at the door. "Ah, if you'll get that Severus, I will fix us lunch." Snape looks at him quizzically and Malfoy tells him quietly, "it's Dance, and Shiver, from the feel of...

Snape sits at his desk deep in thought, his mind running over the events of the last few days. He hasn't slept yet. It didn't make any sense to him to even lie down, he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. He's not sure what he wants to know more, the details of Malfoy's meeting with the Inquisitor, or Elsbet's. Elsbet's, really, Malfoy's he can guess at, and probably be right. But Oddbit...why was she unconsious? What happened to her in there, and will she even tell him? That question is almost worse than the other; she keeps everything bottled up inside and probably always has. Sooner or later...

The door closes and Snape is left alone with the two people dearest to him.

His heart trembles at the sight of them together.

When he first realized what he felt for her was love, he could not tolerate the idea of another man touching her. But now, gazing at her in Malfoy's arms, he is actually comforted. Comforted because he knows that if something happens to him, she will not be left alone. He wants nothing more at this moment than to lay down with them, take his time healing them, but he can't. He doesn't have that luxury. What he does have, besides the burning desire to make love to them,...

Snape opens the door and Therion slips in quickly, clearly agitated. Before any words are spoken, Therion holds a finger to his lips and meets Snape's eyes directly. We can't leave like this, he thinks. Dementors, he makes a circle in the air, and Snape looks at Malfoy. Therion thinks to them, there have been a few developments in the last couple of hours, and it's not very safe to travel. We'll have to go on the wing. Snape nods and Malfoy grabs Snape's robe. I can't...I've never tried it, I don't know how--he thinks, his heart begining to race. He's so close to the light at the end of the...

"No, Narcissa, I will not have this discussion with you now!" He storms away from her even as she grabs for him. "Just tell me one thing," she shouts as he goes up the steps out of the grand dining area without looking back at her. "Lucius!" He spins around to face her and hisses, "what?" She stares at him, her face pale but her eyes livid, "have you ever loved me?" He doesn't blink. He won't answer. Not with so many 'visitors' in the house. He turns slowly and heads for the dark hallway. "Did you love me when you married me?" He stops for a moment and takes a deep breath. He might as well...

He carefully considers the possibilities of the situation. Malfoy may have turned from the Dark Lord, but the thought of that nearly makes him laugh. It's not that Therion doesn't believe it can happen, that a Death Eater can turn, it's just that he knows how Dark and bloody Malfoy is, and how unlikely it is. It would have to be something profound, something truly phenominal to cause such a change in that evil heart. But then...Therion knows a thing or two about Severus Snape, things he'll never tell another Being, living or dead. He knows just how much Elsbet means to Snape, and if he trusts...

"Out and about rather late, Headmaster," Snape hears behind him, and the voice sets his teeth on edge. He steels himself, closes off his mind entirely, and turns to face the speaker. "I could ask you the same, Alecto." She grins up at him, her eyes glittering insanely. If there truly was a Satan, Snape is certain Alecto and Amycus Carrow would surely be his spawn. The squat, ugly little thing grins even wider and takes a step forward. Oh, if there were just a way to convince the Dark Lord the Carrows were unnecessary, he'd have them out of the castle before either of them knew what was happening....

Several minutes pass before either speaks. Malfoy clears his throat and rubs his eyes. "What did you do to him?" Snape turns slightly and looks at him. "I had every intention of killing the bastard." There is another long silence, then Snape says, "I've not spoken of this with anyone. It is sill...quite difficult." Malfoy nods and tells him, "that's understandable, Severus...you don't...you don't have to tell me..." he looks away and says, "I don't want to intrude any more than I already have." Snape gives Malfoy a slightly befuddled look, then asks him what he's talking about. When the pale...

He's sitting outside watching the peacocks when the messenger arrives, and it takes him a moment to realize that it's not Loki. But the bird certainly knows Snape, Malfoy can feel the slightest imprint of his lover on the bird's mind. And he feels Elsbet's imprint as well! He smiles at this, and knows this must be the invitation. He gazes into the raven's eyes and finds a startlingly clear mind behind them. Time set eight this night. Sevrus take you. You meet at Ellieshome, yes? His heart jumps. No, not at Ellie's, it's not safe, Malfoy thinks to the messenger. Hogsmeade, Malfoy thinks, we...

"You've got to be joking," he says softly, a faint smile turning the corners of his mouth for a moment as he looks down at them. Elsbet runs her tongue up his shaft from his bush to his head, making Snape moan very low, and Malfoy rests his head on the bed. "This is going to kill me..." She giggles and asks Malfoy if he's alright. He tells her he's not, then flashes her a wicked grin. "I can do that too, you know," he says, then licks from the bush around to the head, then up and over it. Snape moans his appreciation, and Elsbet raises herself up just a bit. She winks at Malfoy, then gently...

Snape listens to them chat, glancing from time to time at Elsbet and Malfoy, dying to know what is going on with him. At last, after the meal is nearly done, Malfoy asks him how his day has been. Snape replies that it was fortunately uneventful, then he tells them, "I believe I may be home for a day or two, for the weekend." As the dishes are cleaned up and leftovers stowed, everyone seems to have an idea of what to do for those two days, even the birds. They range from swimming in the small lake in the center of the District (the birds' idea) to visiting the Silhouettes' outpost in the Southfarthing...

Just on the perifery of her mind...

Did she miss something? She must have. Somewhere along the line, she must have. Who was the first to disappear? Lucius. Then Greyback vanished. Then these three, and she's heard the Carrows whispering that Draco is missing.

That's six.

But...Severus couldn't have killed them all. Could he have?

She passes empty rooms as she goes down the long, dimly-lit hallway to the bedroom she shared with Lucius, trying to fit things together in her mind. She reaches the bedroom and something occures to her.

Dumbledore, and the Unbreakable Vow.

She has to sit down. She runs...

In this darker frame of mind, he ponders how things might have been if Dumbledore had simply never put on that damned cursed ring. Ah, but then, there was the equally damned and cursed Unbreakable Vow...if it had just been 'orders from the Dark Lord', he would have found a way...a way to fake Dumbledore's death...but for that Vow. There was the potion the Silhouettes had given him, the potion he never got the chance to try, which he still had. But for that Vow, he thinks. But what about the other Vow? The one he gave that locked him into this life was not to Dumbledore, but to Lily, though...

Malfoy looks up on the wall at Elsbet's odd Muggle timepiece and sighs. He knows Snape will be leaving soon. Everyone's finished their sandwiches, though they're still munching on biscuits...he doesn't wait. There's so much he wants to do before Snape departs for Hogwarts.

"Ellie, let's have a look at the other things," he says, rising, and Elsbet does the same. Carefully, she takes out the other items, looking at each one as she hands them to Malfoy, who looks at them, then passes them to Therion, and so they go around the table. Remus and Snape pay the most attention to them, checking each...

As Snape approaches Perdurabo's grand house, he sees that several Silhouettes are awaiting him. Cappadocius and her group embrace him and tell him that their outpost in the Southfarthing is finished and occupied, and that the rookery is already being settled. Cappadocius tells him that they took the liberty of crafting a lake between the rookery and the outpost, and that their Picadors have seeded the lake with roe from different fish, and shoots of compatable aquatic plants. In a week or so, the lake will be full of life. Snape asks, "what have you named it?" Shiver says, "well, we've planted...