Slucius

"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 قلعہ before either of them knew what was happening....

Several منٹ pass before either speaks. Malfoy clears his throat and rubs his eyes. "What did آپ 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 مزید than I already have." Snape gives Malfoy a slightly befuddled look, then asks him what he's talking about. When the pale...

Within Elsbet's mind, Snape stands on the sidewalk outside a huge square building. He looks to the right of him, then to the left, then straight up. The streets are empty, the sky is clear and there is no breeze. He waits until he sees the single black bird fly overhead, then steps up to the smooth façade. There are no doors nor windows; it resembles nothing مزید than a blemishless granite cube. He stands before the façade and draws a deep breath, then places his hand flat against the surface. Carefully, he moves his thumb out to a 45 degree angle, spreads the middle fingers into a 'v', and...

As he watches Snape pour her Absinthe, he has no doubt what effect his actions would have had on the Dark wizard.

Snape tells Elsbet to savor her drink because she's not to have any مزید of it until later.

Malfoy watches her drink it slowly, happily, and he catches the glint in Snape's black eyes and the slightest flicker of emotion on the usually impassive face.

It's joy, and it makes Malfoy hurt. His thoughtless, malicious, evil act would have crushed the wizard he has shared so much of himself with. He couldn't have lived with that.

She finishes and giggles lightly as Snape takes the glass from...

Her touch is so soft, so gentle, that when she tugs him toward the breakfast bar he's barely aware of it. Snape nods him toward a seat, which he takes, as he himself leans casually against the bar. She is so gracious and graceful that he could very easily forget that she is not a witch. "Lucius," she says kindly, "would آپ like a drink یا something to eat?" Her hand slips from his and as she walks around Snape to go into her kitchen, he forces himself not to look at his hand. Not because he actually believes she is filth, but because he is now faced with the possibility that what he has spent...

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. آپ meet at Ellieshome, yes? His دل 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 بش 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, آپ know," he says, then licks from the بش 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 دن has been. Snape جوابات that it was fortunately uneventful, then he tells them, "I believe I may be ہوم for a دن یا 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 دیا 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 دیوار 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 یا so, the lake will be full of life. Snape asks, "what have آپ 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 گھاس and even a little pond. Snape's دل 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...

He feels a soft, feathery touch on his forehead, almost between his eyes. The touch comes and goes and brings with it a very slight pressure, as though something very small were pushing against him. The touch is accompanied سے طرف کی a whisper of a voice in his mind, a voice so small most Magicals would not perceive it. 'k up! 'k up! the little voice says, Lusus, 'k up! He will not let himself laugh, he will not hurt his little visitor's feelings, but his joy is so great he almost can not contain it. His eyes open to find the tiny raven Familiar of his beloved Severus Snape, trying mightily to wake...