S & L

In the morning, before Malfoy wakes, Snape tells Elsbet that he has inquired about Micha's fate, and she tells him she thinks he is dead. "Bea told me they are both watching over me, not by name, but...who else could she mean but my brother and my friend," she says with a slight shrug, and as he pulls her into his arms he tells her he thinks it is worth trying. "But--" he doesn't let her finish. He kisses her tenderly and holds her close, thinking to her, what makes you believe Bea didn't mean your brother and Sirius? She rests her head against Snape's chest and tells him, "why would Sirius...

Steeling himself for the worst, Snape approaches the glass and sees Malfoy sitting with his back to the door. After a second, the White Wizard looks over his shoulder at his Dark lover, an expression of undisguised joy on his face. After another couple of seconds, the elegant head of the great bird appears, and rests on Malfoy's shoulder. The swan gazes at Snape, who finds himself at a loss. He sees Malfoy's lips move and he knows he's asking the swan something; the bird turns his head and clacks his bill in response. Malfoy laughs and Snape's heart is light...clearly, the healing is a success....

As Malfoy leaves Elsbet's room the Silhouettes are departing, and he wishes them good fortune with a gentle mental touch.

"So," Therion says as Malfoy walks back into the living room, "Ellie truly is an Elf." Malfoy nods as he sits down, sighing deeply. Remus stretches and goes into the kitchen, and after a moment or two comes back with a glass of juice and munching a piece of bacon. Tonks sits down across from Malfoy and runs her hands through her bubble-gum pink hair. "What does that mean for us?" Layne looks at each of them and smiles softly. "I think...it means we're supposed to be together."...

Tonks sits for a moment, thinking. "But, how would she know the language itself, unless her parents actually sat down and worked it all out?" The wizards look at each other silently, fidgeting, then Tonks gives a half-hearted laugh. "You can't mean..." Quietly, Therion goes to the huge bookshelf that takes up the corner of the living room opposite the door that leads to their backyard park. He crouches for a moment and pulls a very large book carefully out of the bottom cabinet, then places it in the center of the coffee table. He sits back down and looks at Tonks evenly. "The Encyclopedia...

Remus the Wolf is vaguely aware of something moving near him. He turns and flicks his ears, then lifts his nose toward the sounds. He moves toward it slowly, toward the shadows of an empty house, and he can just make out the shape of the observer.

It's another wolf.

The other wolf is as curious about him as he is about it, and as he moves closer to the shadows, the other wolf whines excitedly. He moves slowly, cautiously, forward, and the other wolf moves just as cautiously toward him. As it passes out of the shadows and into the moonlight, Remus sees the other wolf is beautiful; blond fur shot...

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 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...

With breakfast ready, the wizards carry their trays into the living room, and through the door Elsbet created. Once outside, they find themselves in a masterpiece in progress. She's creating a little park, a park just for them, complete with shady trees, fragrant flowers, soft grass and even a little pond. Snape's heart skips a beat. A pond...she must know, somehow, that her pond, with all her beloved fish, is gone. He will make it up to her, he will make it right...

There's even a picnic table, and they lay out the trays on it, then look around the little park. "Ellie," Therion smiles, "did...