Part Six

Severus lay naked on their bed, waiting for Eirik to join him. He was still slightly pink from the hot bath that Eirik had teased him into taking. Severus was a shower man, but now and then, with the right motivation...

Eirik had been planning this night since the day they had left for Milan. He'd thought about it and had decided that, once and for all, Severus was going to learn to share his needs with him. Oh, he was coming along rather well on his sexual ones. But his emotional, his intellectual needs were another matter.

He'd made doubly certain that their bedroom had been spelled for silence. He didn't want Freya feeling she had to burst in.

Eirik knelt on the side of their bed and knee-walked over to the body that was ready to welcome him. With a bit of a grin, he straddled Severus and sat back, his arse rubbing teasingly on his lover's groin. Severus made that little grunting sound that usually lit Eirik's fire. Tonight, he mentally doused it. If all went as he planned, it was going to be a long night for both of them.

He leaned over and brought his hands up along Severus's arms, moving them so that they were stretched above his head. Eirik leaned over and kissed him.

Severus's mouth opened almost immediately. It had taken Eirik a few months to figure it out, but he'd finally concluded that what Severus's scent was to him, his taste was to Severus. So he fed him. Didn't mind feeding him as Severus allowed him to feast equally on him.

He pulled up his head and Severus tried to follow his mouth.

"Uh, uh."

Severus opened his eyes. Eirik loved the sight of Severus's eyes as he succumbed to his libido. They went from dark brown to a black that made them look like bottomless pits only he could fill.

He moved their hands so that Severus's were against the spindles that decorated the head of the bed. "Do you remember, once I told you what I would do to you if I decided that you needed punishing?"

Severus grew very still. There was a flash of more than wariness in those eyes of his that gave Eirik qualm. No, he was going to do this. Severus needed to learn this lesson he was going to teach him tonight.

"That you would punish me by sucking all the cum out of me." Said neutrally.

Eirik wondered if he'd consciously omitted the first part but nodded. "That's right. And now, do you have any idea why I might feel the need to punish you?"

The position he was holding was hard on his back, but he had no intentions of letting Severus's hands loose, nor of straightening. This conversation needed to be held eye to eye.

Severus slowly shook his head.

"All right. I suppose it's not totally your fault that you don't understand about sharing your needs. After all, you've been taught so often that they're not a priority. But now they are, Severus. With me, your needs are always a priority."

"Eirik..." There was a hint of exasperation in among the trepidation.

"You put your needs second to father's when he asked that you appear at his birthday celebration. You did the same when we were summoned to the closing of the IFOW annual meeting. You did it again when you accompanied me to New York, where you took care of me as no one else ever has. You allowed me to drag you through museums, art galleries and not once - *not once*, Severus! - did you indicate that there were places that you would have liked to visit while we were there. Not one apothecary store. Not one occasion of dropping in for drinks with a fellow Potions Master. Nothing.

"And when you received that invitation for the conference, instead of mentioning it to me, you tossed it into the trash. I want to know why, Severus. It's not as though you really didn't want to go. You had a great time there, meeting others like you who adore potions. Who need potions in their lives as much as you do. So why didn't you tell me?"

Eirik waited through the silence that followed. Severus looked uncomfortable. He wriggled as though trying to get away and Eirik dropped his weight onto Severus's chest.

"Severus. Why?"

Severus licked his lips. Finally he said, "Because... Oh, lots of reasons."

"You can do better than that, Severus."

Severus shrugged. "Because I wasn't certain how I would be received. Because I supposed I was afraid that it might be a let-down. I had often wondered what it would be like."

Eirik didn't let up. "And?"

After a moment, Severus said quietly, "Because I wasn't certain it wasn't a trick of some kind."

Eirik nodded. Keeping his voice sympathetic, he offered, "I can understand all that, Severus, but I don't think that's all."

Severus sighed in exasperation. "Because even though you don't seem to think it important, I am under Pronouncement of Banishment. If I leave Hillswick, I may not be allowed back. And this is the only home I have ever had."

Eirik nodded. "Yes, maybe I don't see this Banishment thing as you do. You're the one who's under its Pronouncement, not I. But, Severus, if you had cared to mention that to me, I would have contacted Finnbogi and have him come here and explain to you that the documents he's given you mean that, much as Dumbledore and his Aurors dislike the fact, you are protected under international diplomatic law.

"Completely protected as any other diplomat is. And Finnbogi should know: he wrote up the documents. And he's a top prime coverer of arses, is Finnbogi. And he would have explained to you that in those documents, you are classified as father's expert on matters dealing with Potions. And just because he hasn't called you up in that capacity doesn't mean he won't should the need arise.

"That makes you part of the IFOW's diplomatic corps, Severus. And in that capacity, you are free to roam the world. Well, all of it except for most of British territory. The documents are real, Severus, not just pieces of paper meant to fool an Auror's eye."

Eirik rubbed his cheek against Severus who was lying there, looking at the ceiling.

"I think, love, that you need to learn to ask, to share your concerns with someone. If not with me, then with Freya. Or even Finnbogi. And I think for that lesson to penetrate your beautiful but thick skull, I need to punish you."

There was wariness but no trepidation this time in Severus's eyes. "By sucking all the cum out of me."

Keeping his face serious, Eirik nodded. "Do you agree to allow me to punish you, Severus Snape?"

It took enough time for Eirik to wonder if he had gone too far but then Severus, equally serious, nodded. His voice was rough when he said, "Yes."

"You are to hold onto these spindles, Severus. Never to let go. Is that understood?"

Eirik released Severus's hands which moved to grip the spindles. Good, he thought, now to get on with it.

He sat up, rubbed his arse against Severus's groin, then moved off him.

With a grin that promised all sorts of things, Eirik lay next to his waiting lover.

He propped himself up on an elbow and skimmed the tip of his index finger from the slight hollow at the collarbone, bisecting the lightly furred chest, following the dark line to the cock nestled in its bed of trimmed bush. And then back up again.

Severus was watching him far too seriously, thought Eirik. Still, the fact that he was lying there, hands whitely wrapped around the spindles, boded well for the trust that had been established between the two of them.

He moved his finger to Severus's face, lightly tracing the strong features. He spent some time on the thin-lipped mouth, until it opened and Severus caught the finger between his teeth, holding onto it gently, using his tongue to play with it as he often did with Eirik's cock.

Eirik smiled. Good. Severus was getting into the mind set of the game.

He removed his finger and replaced it with his mouth, claiming Severus's with his tongue.

He could feel it when Severus released his hold on of the spindles, to come touch him. Eirik pulled quickly away. "No." He kept his tone severe. "No. You can't touch me. Your hands have to remain on the spindles."

"Or?" Severus placed his hands back where they belonged, but his look challenged.

"Or I'll stop touching you."

"You're serious."

Eirik nodded. "The choice is yours, Severus, but you did agree to this punishment."

Severus held his eyes and then finally gave a short nod of his head.

"Good. Now then, where was I? Oh, yes, your mouth." And he reclaimed it.

Severus kept to his word all the time Eirik played with his face, sensitizing it with touches that lightly skimmed to caresses with his hand and then his mouth tasting with his teeth lightly biting. When he moved down to include Severus's throat, one of Severus's hands left the spindle once more.

Eirik sat up, shook his head sadly. "Severus," he chastised.

Already breathing heavily, Severus passed his tongue over his lips and swallowed hard. "Sorry. I just wanted to touch you."

Eirik made a production of sitting cross-legged next to the man whose hands were now both again tightly gripping the spindles. "This isn't going to work." He saw the loss in Severus's eyes before he added, "Unless..."

"Unless?"

"Unless I tie your hands."

Eirik had no delusions of what was going through Severus's mind, that he had recalled the first part of Eirik's threat as well as memories of being chained while some Voldemort lackey whipped him. Eirik waited.

Severus lay very still. "All right," he whispered.

Eirik didn't ask him to confirm his decision; he was too afraid that Severus would use the second chance as a way of changing his mind.

He got off the bed and went to rummage in a drawer.

Severus's eyes revealed his surprise.

"Not what you expected?" Eirik dropped the silk scarves on the bed. He tied a knot around Severus's wrist with one end and then, stretching the arm out a little, tied the other end around a spindle in such a way that Severus could grip it. Then he picked up another of the scarves, walked around the bed to the other side, and did the same to the other hand.

He picked up a third scarf and allowed it to dangle from his fingers. "I think that we'll take care of all appendages at this time. You'll find your punishment much easier if you have no choice but to submit to it." And he repeated his actions with first one ankle then the other.

When he was done, Severus was as he had wanted him to be from the beginning, laid out spread-eagle, his body completely open to his touch.

"You know," he made his voice as pensive as possible, as though he were just thinking about this, "I think we'll have to start all over again. The mood's been broken, don't you think?"

The bindings were perfect. By the time Eirik found his way back to Severus's neck, he was wriggling safely in the confines of his bondage, fully able to concentrate on what Eirik was doing to him without having to remember to hold onto the spindles.

Severus's nipples were as sensitive as his own. They lay, begging for his attention, little brown nubs that were surrounded by the light dusting of black hair spread over the pecs.

Eirik loved playing with Severus's nipples. Even after all these weeks together, Severus always acted as though he was surprised by their response to Eirik's tongue and fingers.

He lightly grasped the one he was tormenting between his teeth and pulled on it, delighting in Severus's gasp of pleasure.

He kept glancing up every now and then all the while he amused himself with one and then the other nub. He loved watching his lover's face when he was off into a world of sensation. He also glanced down at the cock riding high, tears of pre-cum slowly oozing out of the piss slit.

With a grin that several of his past lovers knew all too well, Eirik sat up.

It took Severus a good minute to realize that Eirik's mouth was no longer on him, his fingers no longer pinching and teasing.

"Wha...?" he gasped.

Eirik rested his elbows on his knees, joined his hands and dropped his chin on the small platform they made.

"You know, Severus, I think you need to cool down a little. Punishment is something that you need to contemplate. That requires a certain amount of time and, right now, I think this is going far too fast for the message to get through to you."

"Huh?"

Eirik pretended to be trying to find a solution to what he had perceived as a problem. "Ah, I think I know what will help." And he got off the bed, going to the drawer that held some of the toys purchased while in New York. Oh, they had played with a few of them. The butt plugs. Severus liked that little game. And, once, Eirik had used a cock ring on him, just to show him how it felt. And again a vibrator. Now it was time to do some serious playing.

"I don't want you coming before I decide it's the right time, Severus. That's part of your punishment. I want all the cum you've got in you, so we'd better make sure that it's all there when I want it."

The cock and ball harness was not one that Severus had seen. Eirik made certain it was on snug enough. "I like the separated look on you, Severus. It will make it easier to concentrate on each of your balls in turn. And that strap's not too tight, is it? I want it to prevent your coming, not cut off circulation. That cock's all mine and I want it to remain in good working condition."

He slipped the jar of unguent from under his pillow. Greasing up two fingers, he slipped them into Severus's arsehole, opening him up, making certain that his prostate got its fair share of attention. "Yes, that harness works really quite well."

Severus opened his eyes and managed to raise his head. "Fuck you."

Eirik's eyes gleamed with wickedness. "Yes, love, eventually. If you still have the energy after I'm through with you."

He picked up the butt plug with the wide end he'd laid on the covers. "We haven't tried this one, have we? A bit larger than the others. Now then, relax. Let it find its way in. Ah. Now you'll be ready for me when I want you."

Severus growled, "You seem to have delusions about size, dearling."

Eirik grinned outright. "Oh, my first term of endearment." He leaned over and licked the nearer nipple swollen from his attentions. . "Your lovely tits really are quite demanding, love. They want all my attention. Meanwhile the rest of your delicious body is being ignored. Can't have that." Then he held up some toys they hadn't played with. "Nice little clamps. Gentle little clamps. I particularly like the chain. All I need do is reach up and give a little tug and ..."

And he left the rest of that to the man's imagination as he carefully released the clamps on sensitive flesh.

Severus shouted his reaction.

"Yes," said Eirik, when Severus had finally accepted the sensation on one nipple and then the other, "I think they'll like the attention they'll get this way." And he gave the chain a little tug.

"Merlin!" Severus gasped, swallowing hard.

"Sorry, only the two of us are allowed in this bed. No one else, Severus. I don't share."

And he tugged a little less gently on the chain. Severus's chest arched and he moaned loudly.

Eirik listened carefully. He'd once explained to Severus that there was a difference between hurt and pain. He wanted some of this to hurt, but not be painful. It was a fine distinction, but he thought that after tonight Severus would understand.

Meanwhile, there was a navel that required attention, a rib cage that was particularly sensitive to skimming fingertips and soft inner thighs that cried out for marks of possession.

And there were things that needed doing for his own pleasure.

He loved the scent rising from his lover. It was intoxicating. Eirik inhaled deeply as he nipped at the now sweat-matted hair in Severus's armpits, licked at the lines of sweat dripping off his rib cage, gathering in his navel. He amused himself making patterns with his tongue on the dusting of hair on Severus's chest and stomach. He buried his nose in his man's groin, revelling in the strong smell of his arousal. He even settled between his open legs and rubbed his nose over his balls, slipped his hands under his arse and raised him enough to scent the smell gathering on the skin of his crack.

All the while, Severus writhed, bucked, jerked and went from moans to groans to curses that were soon incomprehensible. And all the while, Eirik purposefully ignored the reddened cock that was now almost demanding attention.

With a certain sense of wickedness, Eirik unbraided his hair. Severus loved playing with it when they were lying together, after a first session, or even if all they were doing was talking the day over. He'd taken to braiding it for him most mornings: Eirik loved the feel of Severus's hands in his hair. Now he flipped it all forward and then trailed the ends over skin that was oversensitized to anything but air.

Severus arched up into the feel of it, moaning.

Eirik nodded and concentrated on sweeping his hair back and forth, across nipples that screamed their want, the flat stomach that trembled. He used it to tease bitten and marked inner thighs so that hips rose high in response. He gathered it in his hand and used it to whip the reddened balls, the purpled glans, in rhythm to the shouts and profanities of the man on the bed.

Eirik sat back on his heels, pushed back his sodden hair, and tugged once more on his own balls, trying to keep himself in control. Damn but the man made a lovely picture. Hair soaking wet, head rocking back and forth, eyes closed but face feral with his need. Those lovely shoulders barely resting on the bed, with heels digging in, as his hips arched high as he could get them in supplication of ease, in their need for his touch. And that arse, cheek muscles visibly clenching on and off the butt plug buried in it; the balls and cock threatening to burst from their confinement.

Time, thought Eirik, it was time.

Jar in hand, he greased himself, then pulled the butt plug out, not particularly gently. Reaching back, he tugged on the loose ends of the scarves, releasing Severus's feet, and quickly grabbed his knees, holding them more widely apart. Eirik rose onto his knees, forcing Severus's hips up and shifting his weight to rest on his shoulders. With accurate aim, Eirik nestled the head of his cock and then rammed himself into the still open hole.

Severus was vocally appreciative.

As he rocked back and forth, Severus tired to meet his rhythm, but by separating his legs even further apart, Eirik made it impossible for him to do anything but accept.

It didn't take Eirik long to come, he'd been ready long minutes before. He dropped the slippery legs, leaned over his lover's body, rubbing his body along the bound cock, and, reaching up, took Severus's head between his hands and devoured his open mouth.

Then, he slipped down, making certain to tug on the chain that connected two very, very sensitized tits and, holding Severus's thighs wide apart, he lowered his mouth and claimed the cock that was his.

Severus screamed.

Eirik sucked hard on the cockhead, the uncovered glans a plum to be devoured. He licked clean the slightly sour drops that had been seeping out, reached for the release on the harness and swallowed his man's cock to the root.

That was all it took. Severus continued screaming until there was nothing left to be sucked out of his cock. Then, suddenly, the noise stopped. Eirik quickly looked up. Severus's eyes had rolled back and he was slipping into unconsciousness.

Eirik pushed himself up, and checked that Severus was breathing properly. Slowly, he made his way out of bed. He released Severus's hands and used his wand to dry the bed of his sweat. He removed the nipple clamps and picked up the rest of the toys. He wanded them clean before putting them away. He used the bathroom to clean himself and piss. He tied his hair back in a loose knot. When he slipped into his side of the bed, he lay back and moaned softly in contentment. He pulled Severus close to him - the man was softly snoring - and cocooned himself about his lover. Then he tugged the covers over them.

With a sigh, he joined Severus in sleep.


Severus wandered in the world between sleep and wakefulness.

He sometimes knew he was in bed and sometimes even remembered whose head was nestled on his stomach. What finally woke him was the soft snore that penetrated the fog surrounding his brain. He gradually grew aware of other things: that his nipples were sore, that his arsehole felt empty. That he hadn't a bone left in his body.

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, a slow smile growing on his face.

Yes, well, Eirik had warned him that he fully intended sucking every drop of cum out of him and Severus truly believed that he had.

Punishment like that... Well, not what he was used to. He'd never felt like this after a session with Voldemort, or even after one of Dumbledore's dressing downs.

He craned his neck just enough to see the head on his stomach. The long white-blond hair was tangled. Of its own volition, his free hand reached for the hair and carded its fingers in it.

So many things had changed since this man had come into his life.

So many things had changed because of the consequences of that one time Dumbledore had loosened his leash enough for him to come here, to this, the further-most of Britain's magical villages.

His fingers drew up one long lock and gently worked their way though the tangles and knots, allowing the separated hairs to fall, to drape over his groin.

Inga Hillswick had found him one day as he had stood on the edge of a cliff overlooking a rock-infested shore line. The plunge had been almost siren in its calling to him. But he hadn't been able to follow it with the young woman watching him. She'd brought him back to the house, had fed him, had warmed him, not just by a fire, but in her bed. He wasn't vain enough to think that he'd been any good, but he had done his best to satisfy her, considering the so very little experience he had, even with his own sex.

Mutual gropes in the showers, behind the bed curtains while other dormmates were busy behind theirs. Lucius Malfoy had been the one to `pop his cherry', as Malfoy had so delicately put it. But not because he had felt any attraction to the horny teenager who had no friends, but because he had been collecting `cherries'.

Voldemort hadn't taught him much more. What had Eirik said? A hole to be filled. Yes, that's what he'd been.

And he'd been willing to play that role because?

He winced. Because it had meant that someone acknowledged he was alive.

He raised his hand and let the hair trickle through his fingers.

Severus had obediently returned to Hogwarts when Dumbledore had ordered him back because he'd accepted that was all his life would be. That there would be no warmth in it and that was what he'd deserved. Inga hadn't asked him to stay when he'd left that final morning. Even though she had sensed that he wouldn't be back, she had thanked him.

For Alexander.

A child. His son.

Who loved him without question. In spite of his sarcasm, his snarls. His reputation as a mean bastard.

Unconditional love. He'd heard someone use that expression about children before Alexander had come into his life and he hadn't been able to understand what it had truly meant.

He did now.

In the giving. And in the receiving.

Alexander's great gift to him had been his acceptance of his father's love, as it was. Hesitant and wary at first and then, when it hadn't been rejected, with a gradual fullness of spirit. Growing more and more with each day.

The Severus Snape of Hogwarts would have laughed himself silly if someone had told him that he was capable of that much love. That Snape hadn't any in him. He sometimes wondered where it all came from. Was there a limit to it? Would one day he discover that, like some large bottle of potion, he had used it all up?

It didn't seem to be like that. It seemed to grow as needed.

From Alexander to Freya.

To...

Severus shook his head slightly. No, not yet. He wasn't ready to go there yet. This was still all too new to him. He was too used to having his needs used against him. In spite of knowing rationally that Freya and Eirik weren't like that, emotionally he wasn't ready to allow himself that freedom.

Because that was the problem. Much as he was drawn to this man, much as he cared for him...and yes, he did most certainly care for him...he wasn't yet ready to admit that there was more.

Not when he looked into a mirror and saw what he saw.

Maybe he had changed somewhat on the inside, but outwardly, he was still the ugly child whose presence, even existence, his parents hadn't been able to tolerate. Whose classmates had found difficult and even repulsive. Who had proved the butt of too many Marauder plots. Whose only value to Voldemort, apart from his ability with potions, was as a hole to be filled. Whom Dumbledore...

Eirik snorted, rubbing his face against Severus's body as though challenging his thoughts. Severus forced his body to relax. Eirik settled once more.

Severus liked these times when he was awake and Eirik wasn't. He liked looking at this man who usually had some kind of hold on him, as though wanting to keep him near. An arm draped across him, a hand holding onto his leg. A leg thrown over his.

Eirik Brekke was a cuddler.

Severus had heard of such things. It had made him uncomfortable at first when he'd awakened and found himself...possessed. Merlin! He hadn't even been used to spending an entire night in the same bed with the person he'd had sex! Inga had been the only other one he'd actually spent nights with, not leaving to return to his own bed or his own room. And she had allowed him half her bed while she'd slept in hers.

Eirik followed him about.

If Severus moved, trying to put some space between them, Eirik would soon reach out and find him. It had made him uncomfortable at first, but now he had to admit that he liked the fact that even in his sleep, Eirik needed to know he was there.

And it was more than in bed.

Eirik was interested in what he was doing in his lab. He'd begun reading his manuals on Potions, the articles Severus had published. He asked questions. Severus didn't think for one moment that Eirik would take up potions making, but he was curious and he wanted his curiosity satisfied.

And he'd opened up a new world to Severus. One which he had to admit was beginning to fascinate him. He too asked his questions, and though Eirik often couldn't explain just why he was doing what he was doing, that ambiguity appealed to the researcher in Severus.

And who would have thought that someone as extroverted as he was introverted would need him?

Freya did. She thought they went well together. She'd told him recently that she found he had a calming influence on Eirik and that Eirik brought him out of his shadows.

He'd certainly exposed him to a world that was larger, more complex than Hogwarts!

Far more populated as well.

He brought up a handful of hair and released it across his chest. His stillsensitive nipple twitched at the sensation. Severus smiled to himself at the reawakened throb. Then he frowned as another thought challenged his reverie.

Just how realistic was all this?

Eirik had smelt him and had decided that Severus satisfied some inner genetic need.

Severus grimaced at the ceiling. That was far too severe. Too one-sided.

He too found that Eirik's taste seem to satisfy some inner genetic need of his own.

Fair exchange, when he thought about it. The sense of taste was no more reliable than the sense of smell. Here he was, worried that one day he would no longer smell right to Eirik, when how did he know that one day Eirik would not taste right to him?

Eirik had insisted that his smell was only the initial attraction, that there was more to this...dare he say the word, even if only in his mind? Severus drew up another curtain of hair and watched it drape down. That there was more to this...relationship.

The word terrified him. It drew him.

Once, he would have said that he was not capable of having such a thing...

Say it, he dared himself. Not a thing, a relationship. A life with a partner, with someone who cared for him...as he, Severus, cared for him. Who shared his life as he wanted to share Severus's.

The Severus Snape of Hogwarts in a relationship? No. That would have been beyond him. What a relationship needed, what it all entailed, was something that Snape didn't have in him. Was more, far more than what he could have given.

Back then, he would also have said that he hadn't been capable of love.

Alexander had proved him wrong. Eirik seemed bent on doing so as well.

Severus wondered at how badly he wanted to be proven wrong.


Eirik woke slowly, the scent of his man tickling his nose. He was lying, head on Severus's stomach, one arm about his waist as Severus was sorting out the tangles of Eirik's loosened hair with his fingers then allowing the lengths to drift over them.

They lay that way, Eirik still not truly awake, for several minutes.

"I don't mean to be like that," Severus finally murmured.

Eirik opened his eyes. His hair was covering all of Severus's chest.

"I know." He moved his hand so that the wrist rested on Severus's shoulder while his fingertips stroked the rough line of morning beard along Severus's jaw.

"It's just..."

"It's just that you find it easier to share your body, rather than your needs."

"My...needs have never exactly been of interest to anyone."

Eirik moved his head just enough so that he could rub his nose under Severus's jaw. "That might have been true before, Severus. But no more. You have Alexander who worries about you enough to threaten me if he comes back and finds I've made you unhappy. You have Freya who cares for you. And you have me who loves you, if you'll allow."

"Alexander threatened you?"

Eirik smiled at the amazement in Severus's voice and kissed the skin nearest his mouth. "Yes. He loves you very much, Severus."

"Yes."

Eirik could hear the wonder of that in Severus's voice. Still, after all this time? he thought.

"It's just...I didn't know how to ask or how to bring it up, the conference."

Eirik snuggled closer. Severus was still playing with his hair and Eirik thought that the gesture gave him comfort for some reason.

"It's not hard, love. You throw the invitation at me and say, `I'm going. Are you coming along?'"

There was a small almost unbelieving scoff.

Eirik tightened his hold on his doubtful lover. He moved his head so that he could look into Severus's bottomless eyes. "Severus. Listen to me. There will come a day when I ask you to come with me to some event and you'll be busy in your lab. And you won't be able to come. You'll be working on a potion you can't leave. Or it'll be something that you just can't stand attending. And I'll go by myself. But I will come back, Severus. Just as one day, I may be working on a painting or have to be somewhere else, and you'll go to some Potions Masters meeting alone. But I'll know that you'll come back to me.

"Saying no to something is not saying no to us. Just as informing me that you want to go somewhere is not putting undue strain on our relationship. I've shared all parts of me with you. And somehow you haven't rejected me. Not even when I showed you Riky. Trust me to accept all of you. Because I will."

He lowered his head onto Severus's shoulder and nestled his face against his neck.

Severus rested his cheek on Eirik's head. He had almost fallen back into sleep when Severus spoke. "This...punishment."

Eirik found he was suddenly very awake. "Yes."

"Is it something that you foresee having to do again?"

"If necessary, yes."

"And..."

"And?"

"And is it only a one-way street?"

Eirik was very quiet as he thought of what it would be like to be at Severus's mercy. "Well, I'm certain there will be times when I'll do something that you feel deserves punishment. It wouldn't be good for you to hold that feeling in."

There was a long pause.

"Such as your behaviour after a showing."

Eirik thought about that. His cock had been hard from his morning's erection but it suddenly got harder. "Well, we really would have to find a place to stay where we could put a silencing spell on our room. It's not allowed in the hotel as a security precaution. I'll have to mention that to Luc. She'll probably know of someone's house we can use."

"And then we would need a special case for the...toys."

Eirik moaned as he rubbed his groin against Severus's thigh and felt something hard against his.

"Oh!" Said sharply.

Eirik looked up quickly, his cock gone from his mind. "What?"

"Nipples are sore. You rubbed against one when you did that."

"Want me to spell them?"

Severus looked into his eyes. "No. I want to remember last night, for as long as I can."

Eirik smiled. "So do I. Shall I roll over so that you can do me from behind?"

Severus's grin was positively wolfish.


Alexander Hillswick was bored.

He and Rhodri were sitting in a corner of the Potions classroom, working on an essay for Professor Binn - four feet on the causes and consequences of the meeting that had led to the formation of the International Federation of Warlocks. Geoff was playing around with a new logo he was designing for them: a combined dragon, bat, and wolf.

Several students were attempting to make a potion to remove freckles. Just freckles. The last batch had removed not only freckles, but facial features as well. Madam Pomfrey had not been happy.

Others were reading for some other course; one or two were even dozing.

Professor Grog was snoring away in his chair, feet propped up on the desk.

Suddenly, the door slammed open.

Professor Grog fell off his chair and everyone else turned or looked up to see what had happened.

A slim, elderly man with a long, dangling moustache, dressed in Chinese garb, stood in the doorway, scowling at them all in a rather ferocious manner.

"Who the bloody hell..."

And that was all Professor Grog managed to say before the visitor pulled his wand out of his sleeve and spoke some words in a language no one recognized. Professor Grog levitated off the floor where he'd landed and, with another gesture of the man's wand, floated out of the classroom. The door shut loudly behind him.

The man looked around the classroom.

"Disgusting," he sneered.

Alexander felt a momentary pang of homesickness. His papa used to speak like that in this very classroom.

The man continued walking through the classroom on his way to the instructor's dias, his nose turning up and his lips growing whiter as he examined the condition of the room and what people were doing in it.

He pointed his wand at the remnants of whatever potion had exploded long ago, towards the beginning of the year, which had solidified on the ceiling of the classroom. House elves had long ago refused to come in and clean up after an explosion had occurred when they'd tried to scrap some gunk off a wall.

"You have until the end of this period to put some order into this so-called room of learning."

One of the Gryffindors tried to make for the door. The man gestured with his wand and the boy found himself sticking to the ceiling, his robe already dissolving in reaction to what was there. The man waited until he had almost hit the ground to catch him with his wand and stop him from getting hurt.

"The ceiling and the walls need to be scrapped and then scrubbed down. As do the desks, the work tables. The cauldrons. The floor as well. Ingredients. Where are all the ingredients? Find them, put them in their proper places. The same for all implements."

No one moved. Not even Alexander.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" He included them all in his disdain. "For me to turn you all into slugs? NOW!"

The man was neutralizing some of the more dangerous scum when the door opened and the Headmistress walked in.

She stopped suddenly and looked around.

"Yes, Madam?"

All the third year Slytherins and Gryffindors held their breaths. Their eyes went to the Headmistress.

"May I ask what is going on here?"

Rhodri nudged Alexander who tried hard to contain his grin. Geoff went very still. This was going to be something to write home about, for certain.

"Is it not obvious? The students have decided that the condition of this room is intolerable and have decided to put it to rights."

"He threatened to turn us into slugs," whined one of the Gryffindors.

The Headmistress ignored him. "And you are?"

The man slipped his hands into his sleeves and bowed from the waist. "I am Professor Sun Yat-Sun, your new Potions instructor...should I feel that these so-called students of yours are worth the effort."

As that last had been said in a rather threatening tone accompanied by a definitely unhappy glare, most of them quickly took up their assigned duties.

Behind the Headmistress Alexander could see Professor Grog peering, as if afraid to show more than his nose. When Professor Sun Yat-Sun caught sight of him, Professor Grog disappeared in the hallway.

"May I ask if you have any qualifications to teach this subject, Professor Sun?"

All work stopped again as the professor pulled his wand out of his sleeve and waved it. Several scrolls appeared in the air in front of the Headmistress who reached out for them.

"Perhaps you would care to peruse those in the comfort of your office, Madam, while today's classes see to the restoration of proper form in this room. I shall also wish to inspect the library. I need to assure myself as to the quality of your reference material. Before lunch will be convenient for me."

And he turned his back on the Headmistress. "You!" he pointed to Alexander. "If you've done with that desk, there are others that require your attention."

Alexander suddenly found that he was very taken up with scrubbing.

When Alexander next dared look towards the door, it was closed, and the Headmistress was gone.

Lunch was whispers and tables of students trying to get a look at the man who had installed himself as Potions instructor. Professor Grog, not really to anyone's surprise, was nowhere to be seen.

"He's probably waiting for the Headmistress to come to his defence," muttered someone at the Ravenclaw table. Those who heard snickered.

Rhodri rolled his eyes. "Who else would?"

"Damn," Alexander overheard a Slytherin seventh year. "If Sun didn't sound like old Snape when he snapped at us this morning."

"I never thought I would hear myself say this," said another, "but I've missed Snape. At least he taught us something."

Rhodri's dimples flashed as he grinned, his elbow crashing into Alexander's ribs. Usually Alexander complained that his friend didn't know his own strength but this time all he did was smile. At his other side, Geoff intoned, in his usual rather funereal way, "Ah, yes."

Alexander noticed that Professor Sun spent a lot of the time watching their table. And he wasn't the only one who noticed. The Headmistress had arrived late with Madam Pince and was now watching the Professor watch Slytherin.

The afternoon classes knew what to expect, though the mutterings and moans were wisely kept to a minimum. The last class of the day was the seventh year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Their contribution to the evening meal's gossip was that the Professor had made them shine and wash everything again, as Snape had done at the end of a class. Then he'd looked around the room and nodded. By then, they'd been at their desks, books open, ready to take notes, and the professor had begun a lecture on the ethical uses of Polyjuice Potion.

After the evening meal was over, the Professor and the Headmistress left together and all anyone knew was that by the next morning, Professor Grog was gone, Professor Sun was taking lessons and handing out piles of work to be done before the end of the school year which was less than four weeks away.


The letter from Alexander literally danced with joy about the table. Severus lost hold of it and Eirik managed to grab it before it fell off.

"What's that all about?"

Severus held the quivering paper and scanned it quickly. It would settle down once he'd gotten the gist of the message.

He smiled. "There's a new Potions instructor at Hogwarts."

Eirik looked up from the sketch he was making of the letter's arrival. "Really. Who?"

"Professor Sun Yat-Sun."

Eirik stopped sketching for a moment and then laughed.

There was another letter the next day, a more formal, well-behaved letter with the Hogwarts coat of arms on it.

Severus opened that one cautiously.

"It's from Minerva." He sat back in his chair and read it to Eirik and Freya.

`Dear Severus:

I sense your subtle hand in this and I thank you for it.

I expect Alexander has written you about our new Potions instructor. Frankly, the students can't decide whether to be afraid of him, in awe of him, dislike him, or compare him to you. That last depends on whether they were students when you were teaching here. Mind you, they all agree that Professor Sun Yat-Sun seems to be determined to make up for two years' sloppiness in the time left until the end of term.'

"Well," said Eirik, "that should keep them too busy to blow up anything!"

"Alexander will be disappointed," Freya smiled. "Apart from Quidditch, those have been the highlights of this year."

`We had an interesting talk in my office the first night. His qualifications are impeccable, as I'm certain you well know. Pity he felt the overwhelming urge to turn his cousin, the Chinese Minister for Magic, into a toad. I can sympathize with him: I have often felt that urge myself, especially with family.'

Freya laughed aloud. "Oh, dear. Yes, I have to admit that I have as well."

Eirik nodded. "At least half the Coven!"

Severus just smiled.

`Nevertheless, I can also see why his family and the Ministry would feel that until they can find the toad and restore him to himself, the Professor's presence is rather an embarrassment.'

"Oh, my!" Freya shook her head, smiling widely.

`He has promised me that he will have no such urges while at Hogwarts, probably as the same circumstances are not likely to re-occur. It seems the matter of his feud with his cousin is of long standing, going back to their youth. Moreover, he assures me his family rarely travels outside their country.

He seems rather taken with Hogwarts, though not your dungeon rooms. He's assigned himself one of the East Towers, including a room which he has set up as his personal laboratory. He is much interested in Astronomy and Sinistra is fascinated by his Eastern perspective on the matter. And he has already asked Sprout for space in her greenhouses to grow certain foreign plants. She is, of course, thrilled at the thought of having such specialized plants under her care.

As for myself, I feel I can safely assume that he will be here for the next several terms as he has already begun presenting me with copies of the curricula he wishes to follow. Not quite yours, but there should be far fewer explosions and badly made love potions in the coming year.

Thank you for thinking of us.

Minerva McGonagall.
Head of Slytherin House
Headmistress, Hogwarts

P.S. Hagrid is of course beside himself with pleasure over the dragon dog. And the thing is pregnant. I'm not too certain I thank you for that.'

"Dragon dog!" Eirik looked at Freya. "The fur collar is a dragon dog? Those things don't exist."

Severus folded up the letter. "In certain cultures werewolves are said not to exist."

Freya shook her head. "I've never heard of such an animal. What does it look like?"

Eirik tore off a page from his sketch book and began drawing rapidly. With just a few strokes, he had produced a small, very hairy mop-like animal, with four short, skinny legs and black claws. Its nose was the only thing that stuck out from the front, a small black nub.

"That's a rough version of a picture of one I saw at an exhibition in St. Petersburg a few years ago. It was in the corner of a very old portrait of some Chinese official. But since he had been a Minister Responsible for Magical Creatures, I assumed it was representational."

Severus looked at the drawing. "Not bad. Mei-Ming is a little longer in the body. You don't see her wings because they, like her, are covered in a fine fur the same colour as she is. Dragon dogs are rare, but they still do exist. Mind you, it helps to be a member of the oldest pureblood dynasty in all wizardry in order to have one as a pet. Sun probably snuck her out with his things. He had to leave in a hurry when it was discovered that he'd dropped his cousin off in a swamp."

Freya snickered.

Eirik shook his head, sounding very disappointed. "I wish I had been there to see that. It's not every day that one transforms a wizard...or a witch into a small, harmless animal. Especially," he sighed deeply and tried to look very sad, "since I'll never see Luc newtified now that she finds you scrumptious."

The next letter with the Hogwarts coat of arms arrived a week later. It held itself very stiffly.

Severus cursed as he read it. Eirik and Freya waited in silence, sharing worried glances over their cooling lunch, watching him until he looked up.

"The Aurors have been at Hogwarts. Uninvited." He returned to the letter and read.

`Severus.

I hope this gets to you before Alexander writes.

Alexander is all right, as are the rest of Slytherin. Let me put your mind at ease immediately on that score. Angry, upset, shocked and, in some cases, with a return of nightmares, but physically all right.

We had a surprise and totally unexpected visit from an Auror. Two evenings ago at supper.

As you know, under Albus, Hogwarts was set up to be totally independent of Ministerial interference unless called in. I hurry to assure you that I did not call in any Auror, certainly not this specific one. I think you have had dealings with him and will know why when I tell you his name: Section Chief Moastifer.'

"What!" Freya interrupted but Severus held his hand up and continued reading.

`He was one of the Aurors the Headmaster allowed to interrogate Slytherin. He filled up Poppy's infirmary with his version of Veritaserum. I will not discuss the arguments that occasioned between Poppy and Albus, nor between myself and Albus, but will only say that the man left a bitter taste.

We were at the evening meal when he suddenly walked into the Hall, from the side hallway entrance. The Slytherin side.

Of course some of the students recognized him immediately. Several were quite consternated. Pheodor - I'm sure you'll remember him, he was the one who was forever in trouble with Sprout for sneaking plants into his room from her greenhouses - has never truly recovered from his Interrogation with Moastifer. He trembles at the slightest noise. I'm proud to say that Slytherin House is quite protective of him.

Before any of us, I sadly admit, had time to deal with him, this uninvited idiot pointed to the Slytherin table and began yelling that soon they would be exactly where they all belonged: in Azkaban where they would rot. Where the Dementors would treat them as they deserved.

We had our wands out, ready to stun him, when we discovered why dragon dogs are called dragon dogs.

On rereading this - I'm sorry if it sounds rambling, but I am still so livid - Mei-Ming has been very taken with the Slytherin table. She regularly joins them for meals, accepting tidbits, compliments and pats equally politely, as if they are her due. She was with them when Moastifer appeared.

When he began his cursing, we all saw her leap from the table. I remember thinking that she was going to get in the way of our stuns which wouldn't be a good thing for her babies. But as she leapt, she changed. Severus, did you know that when defending her young from perceived threat, a dragon dog actually transforms into a dragon? Not a large one, considering the size of dragons, but bigger than a man. And yes, quite capable of spitting fire.

We left Professor Sun to deal with her while we put out Moastifer with our spells. Poppy at first refused to deal with his burns but then her medical ethics rose to the forefront and she did. He's lost all his hair and has some serious burns on his hands and parts of his head which may prove to take longer to heal as Poppy only cast a temporary healing spell on them. It seems there are limits to even Poppy's medical ethics. The Aurors' Medical team will deal with those, I suppose.

I contacted Albus about this and his response was to demand that Professor Sun be sent on his way as he had not approved his being hired. I have had to remind him that, under a policy he fought for and established, Hogwarts is independent of the Ministry and that he is no longer Headmaster but Minister for Magic. He as Headmaster had not permitted the previous Minister to interfere with Hogwarts and I as its Headmistress fully intend to continue in that tradition.

Cranston, Head of the Aurors Department, offered an apology - such as it was - and explained that Moastifer has been acting erratically of late. He indicated that his actions would result in his being removed from the position of Section Chief. I fear probably more as a result of the howlers Cranston has been receiving from parents than from the act itself.

That is one good thing. Another is once everything was under control, Professor Sun asked to meet with me. I was worried he was going to hand in his resignation. Instead, he informed me that I have enough to do as Headmistress and that Slytherin needs its own full-time Head. That he was taking over that responsibility from me, effective immediately. I have agreed.

Is this what you had in mind when you sent him to us?

Poppy has checked Alexander and all the others over. Humphries is under orders to let her know if anyone requires attention of any kind. Again, I want to reassure you that Alexander is all right.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall.
Headmistress, Hogwarts.'

Alexander's letter arrived a week later. Though more sedate than his last, it did not have the stiffness Severus had expected.

`Papa.

We have a new Head of House. I suppose the Headmistress has already written to you about that. She sent individual letters to all Slytherin parents and a general one to the parents of the other Houses. And Madam Pomfrey has had all of us in the Infirmary, to look us over. I think she's been worried about how some in the House might react to seeing Moustifer lit up like a candle.'

"Moustifer?" said Eirik. "I thought his name was Moastifer?"

"You father referred to him by that name," explained Severus.

Eirik rolled his eyes. "He would."

`Actually, it was really quite wicked. Guess Mei-Ming doesn't like Aurors anymore than we do. It took Professor Sun about an hour to convince her that Moustifer was no longer a threat to us. She shrank down very slowly. He finally had Pheodor, who seems to be one of her favourites, come and talk to her and pat her before she finally reverted to her usual size. Then he sent her with us back to our common room and told Humphries, the prefect, that he wanted us to remain there until he came to talk to us.

Mei-Ming would only go along wrapped around Pheo's neck and she grumbled all the way. He finally had to hold her on his lap for her to calm down.

It was nearly midnight when Professor Sun came. Most of the first and second years were asleep but he waited until everyone was awake to inform us that he was taking over as Head from now on. And that he fully intended to see to it that no one threatened us ever again.

Oh, and he assigned Pheo to Mei-Ming. He said that he wouldn't have time to take her out for her daily walks and that was now Pheo's responsibility. He also warned us all that as her time to deliver approached, she would be a little irritable and so if she growled, to leave her alone. Also that she liked to groom herself in dragon form at least once a day and so we shouldn't worry if we entered the common room to find a dragon. She won't get as large as she did in the Hall. Unfortunately it seems she'll only get that big when she's defensive. So, in dragon, she's only about the size of a large dog. And she grooms herself like a cat.

Hagrid follows Pheo around when he walks her. He asks all sorts of questions about her and Professor Sun has allowed Pheo to borrow a book about her care. Of course, he had to spell Pheo so that he could understand it. It's written in Chinese.

We're getting ready for exams. Professor Sun seems to think that we're writing our O.W.L.s or something. I have to write three whole feet on the practical uses for aconite.

Papa, can Rhodri come home with me at end of term?

His grandparents are going to visit a few Reserves and he finds that really boring. He can't practice Quidditch as flying worries the dragons and so he has to spend his time with the little kids. Or reading.

So if it's all right with you, could you write to his grandparents and invite him? He could share my room and though he eats a lot, that's because he's at least six inches taller than I am now. And he's used to werewolves so the Village wouldn't bother him.

And that way, we can do our summer assignments together and get them done right away, not at the last minute.

I hope Freya and Onkel Eirik are in good health.

Your loving son,
Alexander.

P.S. Professor Sun says he's met you. Could you ask him if we could have one of Mei-Ming's pups when they're weaned?'

Freya shook her head as she patted Severus on the arm. "We were worried and he's more interested in a dragon dog. I forget that the young have different priorities."

"Will you write to Rhodri's family?" Eirik propped his feet up on the chair next to his and finished his tea.

Severus thought a moment. "What do you think? Think we can put up with two fourteen year olds for a while?"

Freya nodded. "The Village and Alexander's cousins might be a problem with anyone else but with Rhodri? I doubt it."

"He's the Beater, isn't he?" Eirik thought a moment. "We could get a couple of Quidditch teams going. Would be fun."

Severus quirked an eyebrow. "So you can teach him more of those moves you taught Alexander?"

Eirik's grin was totally unrepentant.


The boys arrived with trunks, broomsticks, gifts from Hogsmeade and Wales for everyone and the quiet and calm of the household disappeared with their arrival.

Alexander hugged Severus tightly for several moments, then looked him over with an eagle eye before nodding and moving on to Freya and his uncle.

"Brat!" Eirik grabbed him and gave him a rough hug.

Severus was stunned to see how much Rhodri had changed. He was easily six foot and, though still all arms and legs, he promised to fill out. Rather like Charlie Weasley had, thought Severus.

"Thank you for having me, Professor. I know my grandparents were relieved that they won't have to find ways of entertaining me. They'd much rather track dragon spoor and such things."

"Rhodri!" Alexander turned and nodded to Freya.

Rhodri blushed. "Sorry, Madam Hillswick."

Freya smiled and went over to hug him. "Not at all, Rhodri. I do understand how what is fascinating to one mind can be rather repulsive to another. And please, do call me Freya. There are far too many Madams Hillswick in the area."

Eirik was watching Rhodri, head cocked to one side as he stood behind Alexander, with his hands on the boy's shoulders. Already planning a drawing, thought Severus, recognizing the look.

Lunch saw the two boys match mouthful for mouthful, scarfing down food as though they hadn't been fed in days.

"When was breakfast?" asked Eirik, amazed to see all that food disappearing.

Alexander swallowed. "Early," he complained. "Seven this morning."

"Ah!" Severus nodded in commiseration. "Yes, I understand. A full half hour earlier than normal."

Both boys nodded very seriously. Eirik shook his head while Freya merely placed another platter of chicken in front of them.

The bed in Alexander's room had been replaced with bunk beds. While the boys were manoeuvering their trunks upstairs, Freya magicked the lengths so that Rhodri's feet wouldn't hang off the end of his.

"Perhaps you should unpack your books first," said Severus, with the most sincere expression he could summon, "and place them in the library. That way they will be there for you when you begin your summer assignments."

The boys stilled.

"Tomorrow would be a good time, don't you think?" added Severus.

Rhodri's look of horror was priceless as was Alexander's open-mouthed astonishment.

In the hallway, Severus noticed that Freya caught her lower lip under her teeth and finally had to bury her face in Eirik's shoulder to mute her laughter. Eirik glared at Severus until he too understood.

"Papa." Alexander and Rhodri communicated with a series of faces and grimaces.

"Yes, Alexander."

"Well, er...you see, we thought that maybe we'd have a few days off, you know, before we hit the books again."

"But, Alexander, if I remember well, you were complaining all through lunch at the amount of work professor Sun had assigned. And didn't you say that one of the reasons you wanted Rhodri to visit was so that you could get these assignments done right away and not at the last minute?"

Rhodri glared at Alexander as he scuffed his toe on the carpet.

Alexander was chewing his lip the way he did when working out a difficult problem.

He looked up and smiled at his father. "I agree with you, papa. But you know, our brains have been working so hard since Professor Sun took over, well, I think they need a bit of a rest. All that knowledge we've been ingesting, well, it needs time to settle in. You know. A bit of digesting so that we don't forget it."

Rhodri caught on very quickly. "It's like my Mam says, Professor. A good meal requires digestion. And not just Professor Sun has been feeding our brains, sir. I mean there's been Transfiguration, and Arithmancy."

"History and Ancient Runes," interjected Alexander.

Rhodri nodded, his face wrinkled in sincerity. "Charms and Astronomy."

"Don't forget Herbology," added Alexander. "And Defence!"

Nodding sympathetically, Eirik stepped between the boys. "All that intellectual stimulation, Severus. Not good for the body if there's no balance. Seems to me I remember you telling Harry Potter just that not so long ago. Weeks of sitting in dusty libraries, wearing out their eyes by flickering candlelight, writing in the chill of their rooms, burning the midnight oil..."

Severus managed to look quite taken by the image Eirik was drawing.

Especially when he was bracketed by two heads nodding vigorously.

"And what would you suggest as a means of balancing this uneven use of the body?"

Eirik smiled at the boys before offering, "Quidditch."

Two sets of eyes lit up, two sets of teeth came down on expressions of delight. Two sets of eyes turned onto Severus, waiting for his response.

Severus pretended to ponder the solution. "You know," he finally announced, "that may be a good idea. For a few days, until their psyches balance out once more."

"A very good idea indeed," agreed Freya once she had composed herself enough to say so without bursting into laughter.

Rhodri looked at Alexander. "We've missed something, haven't we?"

Eirik put his arms around the boys. "I'm sure you'll work it out. Meanwhile, brats, brooms in the back garden!"

And he was first out the door with his.

Alexander waited a couple of days to complain once more about their summer assignments to his father in the privacy of his lab. "I thought Professor Sun'd be good fun, you know, but he's really a slave-driver."

Severus looked up from the potion he was checking. "Really?" he drawled. Then he smiled. "He wants you to be able to do the work necessary next year and a year of Grog didn't do you much good."

Alexander shook his head. "That's not what you're supposed to say."

Severus leaned back against the worktable. Alexander had sounded rather mournful. "And what was I supposed to say?"

Alexander hopped off the table he was sitting on and came over to put his arms around his father. Looking particularly guileless, he offered, "That Professor Sun is over-reaching his authority and that you'll write him a letter telling him so."

Severus dropped his arms loosely over his son. He bent and kissed the boy on the forehead. He still only barely reached Severus's shoulders. Freya had assured the boy that Hillswicks hit their growth spurt late. "Good try, brat."

Alexander grinned. "That's what Onkel Eirik calls us." He shook his head. "Rhodri bet me you wouldn't cave in. He said that I would be fortunate if you didn't write Professor Sun complaining that he hadn't assigned enough work."

Severus laughed. "And what does he base that on?"

"Your reputation. Seems you were a hard taskmaster."

Severus cocked his head. "Was I?"

Alexander shrugged. "I don't remember you that way. I remember that you wanted us to learn." He propped his chin up on his father's chest, tilting his head back to examine Severus's face. "And that you always looked tired. You don't look tired anymore." His expression was too innocent: Severus braced himself. "Does this mean that you're getting enough...ah, sleep these days?"

Severus couldn't believe they were having this conversation! Was his son truly inquiring about his sex life? He glared. "Is this your way of asking how things are between your Onkel Eirik and myself?"

"And if it were? I do have a vested interest, you know. After all, papa," said with the utmost sincerity, "he did ask me for permission to court you."

Severus smoothed his son's hair back with his two hands, framing his son's face. "Yes, you're right, he did," he admitted. "All I can say is that things seem to be progressing." Severus shrugged. "I've never been courted before, so I have nothing to compare with."

"Do you like him?"

It crossed Severus's mind that this kind of conversation was probably not unusual between a father and son, but in the opposite direction.

"Yes. I do like him."

"In spite of the fact that he's more Northlander than Brekke?"

Severus smiled. "Whatever makes you say that?"

Alexander shrugged. "That's what the Coven says about him. They say he's the only one of all the Brekkes who doesn't have a political bone in his body. That he's a dreamer in a family of realists."

"Well," Severus frowned as he thought, "I might challenge their perception of him but, be that as it may, I like him as he is."

Alexander nodded. He gave his father a final hug. "I'll leave you to finish this potion or we'll never get to the Village today and I want Rhodri to meet some of the cousins."

Just as he reached the door, Severus called out, "Alexander, what did Eirik say when you asked him for an update?"

Alexander turned around, eyes wide open and an expression of totally fake astonishment on his face. "Why, papa, that would be telling, now, wouldn't it? Seems to me you should ask him yourself."

And the door closed quickly before Severus could do more than laugh.


The visit with the cousins was a little tense and stiff at first. It wasn't often that Outsiders came to the Village, and then sometimes with no good intent. Quidditch talk helped. But then Alexander casually mentioned the reason for Rhodri's visit and the word `dragon' worked magic. Especially with the girls who let it be known that they thought it took a lot of daring to work with dragons.

"Has Evan had `The Talk' with Rhodri, do you think?"

Freya smiled at Severus. "It might be worthwhile asking the next time you write to them."

Eirik organized a day of Quidditch, rounding up enough interested young people with their own broomsticks to form almost two complete teams.

"We need two more, for Keepers. I'll take Alexander's team and you, Severus, take Rhodri's. Wolves against Dragons."

Severus tried hard to protest that, apart from the occasional bit of travelling, he hadn't really used a broomstick in years. Besides, he'd never played Quidditch.

Alexander and Eirik grinned. "Then we'll win easily, won't we?"

They did. The first two games. Far too easily. By the third, Severus's sense of competition demanded vindication and the Wolves suddenly didn't find it so easy to score against him.

They were in the middle of a loud argument about a foul, with Eirik and Severus screaming rules and counter-rules, when a new player joined the fray.

"Foul. Dragon serves."

Eirik and Severus turned as one to deal with this interference.

"Who the... Harry?"

Harry Potter grinned at the two men. "No arguing with the referee. Get on with it."

The presence of the National Seeker spurred the young players to their best. This game was hard fought and Harry must have found being referee in this `fun' game almost as difficult as being Seeker in a competitive match. There were times he had to stand on his broom and demand the attention of the players to put an end to arguments.

The game eventually came to an end when some of the mothers indicated that they were not holding supper back any longer. The thought of food was too much for young bodies which had played hard all day.

"Bloody hell!"

Everyone turned to Eirik who was gaping at Harry. "If you're here that means Luc... She'd better not have gone into the studio... I'm not ready to show..." And he was off.

Alexander and Rhodri decided to see if they could beat him back to the house while Harry and Severus followed at a slightly more leisurely pace. They arrived at the house in time to hear Luc, who was dressed in a stunning pink robe with matching streaks in her white hair, reassure Eirik. "Now, Riky, of course I haven't looked. I know better. Besides," she smiled at Freya who was sitting on the patio bench next to her, "I doubt if I would have been allowed anywhere near even if I had tried."

Then she spied the rest of them standing there, brooms in hand. "Sevvie! You look positively delicious. That drenched look really becomes you." And she winked at Eirik.

"Sevvie?" Alexander and Rhodri exchanged astonishments and began snickering. Severus's broom gave theirs a sudden hard swat. The boys swallowed their giggles, but not their grins.

"Luc. As always, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"And who are these two? Oh, my. Sevvie," she purred, "this has got to be Alex." She put down her glass and got up to stand very close to the boy who was now suddenly the focus of all attention. "Oh, my. You are going to be a real heart-breaker, aren't you? Those eyes and your daddy's sexiness, what a combination."

Alexander wriggled as he went beet red.

"And you must be Roddy. Freya was telling me that you work with dragons. That and those shoulders, and those dimples...well, we women aren't going to have much of a chance, are we?"

Rhodri went even redder.

She moved on to Eirik who was now shaking his head at her. "Yes, it's time, Riky, dear. I need to see what you've been doing and while I do, Harry will take a shower, won't you, babe. You won't want to sit down to Freya's lovely dinner stinking like that."

Severus caught the boys smelling the underarms of their robes as Freya took charge of Harry. He shook his head, realizing that he wouldn't be getting into a shower anytime soon, so he followed Eirik and Luc but stayed in the doorway, leaning against the jamb. Near, but not in, in case he was needed. Luc stood to one side, morphing from charming visitor into shrewd agent as she waited for Eirik to display the canvases he was ready to show her.

There were four of them. Three were the flashes of colour that Severus was gradually becoming able to decipher.

These were different than those he had seen at the exhibition. The colours more intense, the patterns less random yet more appealing, to his mind at least. But then he wasn't the expert.

Eirik chewed on his lower lip as Luc stared first at one then at the others in turn. Finally she turned and faced not Eirik but Severus. "I told you you'd be good for him." Then she put Eirik out of his misery. "They're marvelous. Mature. There's a stability to them that's been missing in your work until now. And the emotion is deeper. That one," she pointed to the fourth done in tones of whites, greys and blacks, "radiates sex...desire...attraction, which is incredible considering the colours you've chosen. I know I've said it to you before, but you truly are a brilliant artist, Eirik Northlander."

Before Eirik had time to finish his sigh of relief, she added, "But four aren't enough. I've booked the gallery for a date in sixteen months and I want more. And where are the portraits? I told you we needed a couple of those."

Eirik went up to her and hugged her tightly. "Luc."

She hugged him back, then pulled away, her nose wrinkling. "You smell sweaty, Riky. I can take it from Harry, but not you, much as I love you. So have you any ideas yet for a portrait? Or are you too busy with Sevvie here?"

Eirik grinned at Severus. "Actually, though I think I can never be too busy with Sev...verus, I have sketched out something I think you may like."

He rummaged through a pile of sketches and pulled out a large sheet which he pinned up on an easel. Severus and Luc both moved in closer to look.

It was a drawing of Alexander and Rhodri, at the stone wall that separated the back garden from the patio. Rhodri was lounging back against it, ankles crossed, laughing at something. Alexander was sitting on the wall, hand on Rhodri's shoulder, grinning in the wicked way he had whenever he had caught his friend with a pun or a riddle. Their broomsticks were next to them, along with a Buldger and a Snitch. Alexander's robe was made up of the faces of wolves while Rhodri's was dragons.

"I thought of offering the finished sketch to the Ddus, but we'd keep the portrait for ourselves," Eirik said to Severus.


s

Dinner was food, wine - including some for the boys - Quidditch and Art. Luc monopolized Eirik, sprang to interject something in the conversation on Quidditch between Harry and the boys, then back to Eirik. She discussed injuries particular to her world with Freya and, out of the blue, questioned Severus as to what he thought about that controversy coming out of Latin America about the use of extremely hot peppers in place of rupture wort.

It made Severus dizzy listening to her.

After the lengthy meal was over, the boys went to help Freya turn the library into a sleeping chamber for their visitors while Luc and Eirik disappeared into his studio. Severus moved outside to sit in the darkened garden, enjoying the quiet and calm after the frenzy. He was a little surprised when Harry came to stand by the bench.

"May I?"

Severus made room. "Certainly."

Harry stretched out his legs and sighed. He sounded contented, thought Severus.

"Are you enjoying your position of First Seeker?"

There was enough light coming from the house for Severus to see Harry's grin. "Yes, I am. Especially since my ability seems to have taken them by surprise."

"Them?"

"The Media. My coaches. Even some of my fans."

Severus shook his head. "Then they never truly knew you."

Harry was quiet then he wriggled a little.

"Yes?" And Severus waited while Harry decided whether to tell him what was on his mind.

"Sirius was surprised as well."

"Ah."

"Unlike you, he seems to think that I'm wasting my time with Quidditch. That I have an obligation to my world to be something more."

Severus said nothing.

"Actually, he said that I owed it to my parents to make them proud of me and chasing a Snitch would have disappointed them."

Severus angled himself so that he could see Harry's face. "That's total crap."

Harry started.

"I may not have known them well, but I did know Lily and James. James loved the game and played it well, with great enthusiasm. Lily lost her voice many a match cheering him on. Your parents wouldn't have given a bloody damn what you do, Harry, as long as you're happy doing it. If you ask me, Black is worried for his job. It is not false pride on your part to know should you ever indicate to Minerva McGonagall you wanted to teach Flying or coach the Schools League team, that Black would be relegated to assistant trainer in a blink of her eye. She likes and admires you, Harry."

There was a long silence from Harry: Severus was certain that he had overstepped the bounds of their still so new friendship.

"Thank you, Severus. I was wondering why Sirius seemed to be so...negative. I hadn't thought... And thank you for telling me about my parents."

Severus shrugged, "It's only the truth, Harry. If they loved you as much as everyone tells you they did, it's what they would want. I know it's what I want for Alexander."

"Would you also want a Luc in his life?"

Severus cocked his head. "That depends. Is she good for you?"

Harry thought, a sappyish smile on his face. "Yes, I think so." He lost the smile. "Sirius doesn't like her."

"And does she like him?"

Harry found his smile again. "No. No, she doesn't."

"I assume that she was her usual blunt self about that." Severus could well imagine Luc as she indicated her opinion on something that didn't please her. He coughed to cover up his laughter at Luc at her most harpy. He needn't have bothered: Harry's laughter was heartfelt.

"I'm not naive, Severus," he said when his laughter had waned. "I know that she's fourteen years older than I am. That she enjoys the company of younger men. That she remains friends with a great many of her affections - what she calls her former...admirers. She's not like anyone else I've ever known. And I like her. I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts and when it's over, I'm going to appreciate the fact that she was in my life. In spite of what others tell me."

Severus leaned back. "Are your friends against her? I would have expected more of Granger and Weasley."

Harry shrugged. "I know that we lived in each other's pockets while at school - it was hard not to - but since graduation...well, you know how it is. Hermione is reassuring her parents by attending a Muggle university. She's reading Astronomy and Mathematics. Professor Vector suggested those would help her best with Arithmancy later on. And Ron's working in his father's department: Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. Though his real interest is eventually making Grand Master in Wizard Chess. We write, now and then, but we really don't see each other much any more." He signed. "Our lives don't cross all that often."

Severus nodded sympathetically, then ventured into tricky territory. "Might Dumbledore be one of those disapproving others?"

This time the silence was long enough to worry Severus. "Sorry, Harry. None of my business."

Harry slouched onto his tailbone, shoved his hands into his pockets. "It took me a long time to figure it out. I was diving for a Snitch when it dawned on me, that all along all I'd been was the goat."

Severus was worried by the bitterness in Harry's voice. "Goat?"

"Yes, you know. The one they stake out to draw in the tiger. Or, in this case, Voldemort. The way I see it, Dumbledore knew that Voldemort hadn't died when he'd killed my parents. Only disappeared to return another day. That he could be drawn out - before he was truly ready to reclaim his position as," Harry mocked, "the Supreme Dark Lord. That he had to be if the Light was going to win. And the only way of doing it was to offer him the one and only person whom he hadn't been able to destroy. Who had somehow managed to...well, not destroy him, but to deal a hash blow to his plans for domination. Me. And then Voldemort's ego would take care of the rest."

Severus thought on that.

"Did you know that I was Dumbledore's goat?"

Severus shook his head. "No. Dumbledore never discussed his plans with me."

"But you guessed?"

Severus tilted his head back so that he could see the growing moon. "I didn't exactly guess. More of a sense of discomfort. Dumbledore was very mindful of his students. An accident and the reputation of Hogwarts could be ruined. He'd seen what had happened when Moaning Myrtle had died. He was very careful as Headmaster that there should be no repeats. We both know what happened when Sirius nearly got me killed. Instant cover-up. But then you arrived at the school and suddenly there you were, in the midst of situations...that made me uneasy. You were permitted to take what I thought were unreasonable risks. Even encouraged to. And your successes were the talk of Hogwarts, and thereby out of it. No attempt was made to keep anything under wraps."

Harry's voice was merely curious. "Did you ever confront him about it?"

Severus grimaced. "I was told that I was imagining things." He heard Harry's bitterness reflected in his own voice. "That, as I well knew, young men could act rashly at times."

Severus signed, consciously pushing away the bitterness. "All I could do was keep an eye on you, step in if I could, and hope that it was enough to allow you to live." He turned to the man at his side. "I have to admit, Harry, there were times I thought neither of us would survive."

Harry nodded. "There were times I did wonder if either of us would." He turned to face Severus. "You make a good friend, Severus Snape."

Severus was startled, but then he felt a smile grow on his face, to match the warmth growing in him. "You make a good friend, too, Harry Potter."

The silence that descended in the garden as the two men watched the stars was a comfortable one.


When it happened, it was so unexpected that no one truly understood.

One day, about two weeks after Luc and Harry's visit, Rhodri and Alexander disappeared.

They were on their way to the Village, with a list of items...and never got there.

At first, no one worried. The boys often encountered cousins and either would be caught up in a quick game of Quidditch, or would be flirting with some of the female members of the Clan.

By supper, Freya was worried. Not seriously, but enough to go to Severus's lab and mention that the boys hadn't returned from the Village. He left the potions in Bera's care and went off to find the boys.

He couldn't. No one in the Village remembered seeing either of them that day. Elder Hillswick called up several people and they began tracking back the route to the house. Even by the light of the late summer sun, they weren't able to find any trace of them.

Eirik joined them. Elder Hillswick sent out a call for other Villagers.

They widened the search area. Severus was torn between a sudden fear he refused to contemplate and the thought of what he would do to them if it turned out the boys were playing a prank. He could only hope they weren't injured.

By nightfall, late as it was, there was no sign of the boys.

Freya shook her head. "If it was a prank, they'd have come out and confessed by now."

Severus said nothing. Inwardly, his fortifications were drawing up. Mentally, he prepared himself for the very worst of news. Already, he blamed himself.

They all joined the others from the Village, young, adult, male, female, who, on broomsticks and on foot, went searching. Orm and Ketil remained at the house, with instructions to keep the boys there should they show up and to send a message into the Village.

The searchers had regrouped in the Village, in the early dawn, to plan strategy when a bird - a seagull - hovered over Severus's head and dropped a rolled piece of parchment, tied with a black ribbon.

As it flew away, before anyone had the time to cast a Tracer Spell on it, the bird simply exploded.

Those around watched in silence as Severus unrolled the parchment and read its message.

He closed his eyes and knew that no matter how prepared he had been, he was nowhere ready to deal with the reality. He opened his eyes and saw all the worried faces watching him. He had to clear his throat to read.

`I have them.'

"It's not signed," he added, but in his heart he knew.

Freya took the message from Severus's numb fingers and quickly spelled over it. The letters `M O A S' were all that were faintly revealed by the Recognition Charm. "It was written several hours ago," she explained. "That's all it will show us."

"Moastifer." And Severus's heart stilled.

Elder Hillswick swore.

Freya's face was fierce. "We can ask the Aurors where they think Moastifer would hold them, but I doubt that they'll do anything to help us. But Oddvar will."

Within minutes, a hawk was making its way to the Headquarters of the IFOW in Oslo, without any participation on Severus's part. It was as though his body was as frozen as his heart.

He finally was aware that Freya was speaking to him, must have been doing so for some time as she was watching him with worried eyes. "I think we should go back to the house, you and I, Severus. The next bird will be spelled to find you as this one was. It can find you at the house as easily as here."

"Full moon in two nights," muttered Elder Hillswick.

"I have to write to the Ddus." Severus tried to rouse himself, and did a fair interpretation of it, though he saw all his actions from a blurry distance.

"Yes, dear. Everything you need is at home." Freya nodded to Eirik who took Severus in his arms - Why couldn't he feel them? - and apparated them back to the house.

Freya sat next to him as he wrote to the Ddus. She'd offered to do it for him, but he'd only shaken his head. It took him several attempts before he managed:

"Evan, Rhiannon.

This is no way of breaking this news gently. Rhodri, along with Alexander, has been taken, kidnapped. We know not how or where, only when. Some time yesterday.

We thought at first the boys might be playing prank on us, but this hope was eliminated when I received a message this morning at sunrise. We have no way of tracing it back as the seagull who delivered it exploded. Freya spelled a Recognition Charm but enough letters appeared for us to conclude who is behind this: Moastifer.

We have contacted Oddvar Brekke, who most certainly has more pull with the Ministry of Magic and its Department of Aurors than any of us has. We, the Village and ourselves, are continuing to search for any clue that may help us find them.

I have no idea how long it will take for this message to reach you, but I shall send information on as soon as we have it.

Evan, Rhiannon, please accept my apologies. You left him with us thinking he'd be safe. And he wasn't. I accept all blame.

Sincerely,

Severus Snape.'


It was only by chance that they found out how the boys had been taken.

A small boy of little more than four had wandered away from his mother in a snit of independence and had been drowsing under a tree. He'd awakened when he'd heard a loud "Oof!"

"Like when Michael hits Rafe in the stomach," he explained to Elder Hillswick who had been asked to call in at the boy's house. "Then some words that maman won't let me say. So I look up and see two people falling but they don't crash."

"Why don't they crash?" asked Elder Hillswick patiently.

"You'll think I'm silly."

"No, lad, I won't. What did you see?"

"A carpet."

"A carpet? Ah, a flying carpet."

"See, it's silly." The boy wriggled all embarrassed in his mother's arms.

"No. It's anything but silly, lad. Was there anyone on the carpet?"

The boy smiled. "Yes. But he was wearing a hood and I couldn't tell if it was a witch or a wizard. And he hit the people with a bright light so that they fell very slowly to the carpet. He even waited for their broomsticks to land. Then the carpet went high and I didn't see it anymore. Even when I came out from the tree to see."


Finnbogi was the first to arrive with a small but expert team of investigators.

"The President will join us as soon as he can," he assured everyone.

Eirik snarled, "Too busy courting Wife Number Nine, is he?"

Finnbogi simply stared at Eirik until he signed, rubbed his face with his hands. "Sorry. It's just...we need him here."

"Yes, he is aware of that," said Finnbogi. "But right now he is in the final stages of mediating a dispute between the Giants and the Russian Ministry of Magic. And even you know what they're like. If there's a break, all his work will have been for nothing. He'll have to start all over again and they'll find other things to argue about. He'll be here as soon as he can be. Where's Professor Snape?"

Freya looked up from rubbing Eirik's shoulders. "Finnbogi, you will have to excuse us. We're all tired and frustrated. And we all know that things are a long way from getting better."

Finnbogi clasped one of her hands in both of his, offering support.

She managed a shadow of a smile. "As for Severus, he's sleeping. Not voluntarily. I had to slip him a sleeping draft in his tea. But he hasn't had any since before the boys were taken."

Finnbogi nodded his approval. "If it truly is Moastifer, it is Snape he will want to deal with. The professor will need all his resources when the man tires of his game.

"The President has already contacted the Minster for Magic and the Head of the Department of Aurors. All that Cranston could tell him is that Moastifer is on medical leave. They have no idea where he could be."

Elder Hillswick, who had already reported his findings, muttered, "He can't be that far away! He's on a bloody carpet! Flying one of those over water isn't something that just anyone can do. The air currents and humidity affect a carpet much more than they do a broom. The Village will keep on looking. You never know: we might be able to find something."

Luc was the next one to arrive, just after sunset. But not a Luc Eirik recognized. He'd sent her a note to let her know what was going on, and she'd come not as his agent, but as a witch ready to hunt.

She was all in black, including her hair which hung in ringlets to her shoulders. Her robe resembled a fitted coat more than any witch's robe. The top was tight but the skirt flared from waist to ankle. Black lace decorated the top and draped partially over the skirt. Her boots were flat, as though she knew she would need to be surefooted.

He had never before seen her so somberly dressed, nor her face so set.

She hugged him tightly. "Where's Severus?"

Eirik leaned into her. He always forgot how strong she was for such a slight woman. "In the library. He's just sitting there, waiting."

Luc moved from Eirik to Freya. She held the older woman a long time. "Harry has to play tonight and then he'll join us. He says that he expects to beat his personal best time."

Harry arrived just after midnight. He had barely greeted everyone when Severus suddenly walked out into the garden. He didn't seem to see or hear anyone around him. He was looking into the sky when the second seagull appeared, once more carrying in its beak a rolled piece of parchment, tied with a black ribbon. As the roll dropped down towards Severus's outstretched hand, the bird exploded, covering him with feathers and bloody visceral matter.

Eirik immediately spelled him clean but he doubted that Severus had even noticed.

They all held their breaths as Severus read the message. He was suddenly even paler than he had been. "It says, `How badly do you want your misbegotten son? We'll find out, won't we?' That's all."

Finnbogi took the note out of his hand and muttered over it. Again the letters MOAS were all that appeared. Freya made a sound much like a swallowed whimper. Luc put her arms about her. Eirik accompanied his devastated lover into the house, his arms out, ready to catch Severus if he collapsed.

Harry went to join the Village in its search. Luc took Freya into the studio and shut the door behind them. When they came out a half hour later, both were red-eyed, but Freya was calmer. Bera convinced Freya to go upstairs with her and lie down.

Luc waited until the women had left the kitchen to corner Finnbogi. "When we find that son of a bitch, if you don't kill him, I will."

Finnbogi did not doubt her sincerity and right then he also didn't doubt her ability to do so.

"He must be returned to the Aurors but..." he held up a hand to stop her before she began, "a body will satisfy that requirement, in my estimation."


The President arrived in late morning. Some of his security people went to the Village for an update from Elder Hillswick. Others deployed around the house, keeping an eye on the sky for the arrival of another bird.

Oddvar held Freya tightly as she cried in his arms. He murmured quietly until she grew calmer then handed her his handkerchief and kissed her cheek. "I need to see Severus."

In the library, he found Severus sitting in his favourite chair, staring blindly at the Slytherin scarf he clenched in his hands.

Eirik was sitting at the far end of the couch, sketch pad in hand, yet Oddvar noticed that there was nothing drawn on it. His son looked up and Oddvar saw relief as well as fear in the eyes his son had inherited from a werewolf ancestor. He said nothing, only opened his arms, and Eirik walked into his embrace.

He held his son tightly. "Have you eaten lately?"

The pale head shook `no' against his neck.

"And I suppose Severus hasn't either."

Oddvar pulled back to look into his son's face. "Go eat. Let me talk with Severus and when I signal, bring him something to eat. Tell Ketil something light but nourishing. Go now."

Eirik took a last look at Severus before he obeyed. His frustration at not being able to get through to his withdrawn lover was all too well written on his face. Oddvar pulled out his best reassuring smile and Eirik went, closing the door behind him.

Oddvar said nothing at first. He looked around the room and found a chair he could pull up close to Severus.

"Alexander's scarf?"

Severus didn't move though his hands gripped more tightly.

Oddvar pulled out his sharpest tone, the one he used to cut through loud squabbles at the negotiation table. "Severus!"

Severus raised his head.

"How did you know to go out for the second message?" When he got no response, Oddvar snarled, "This is not helping Alexander and Rhodri. How are you going to be able to make a decision if the next message requires it?"

Severus opened his eyes and Oddvar suddenly noticed that for someone who had supposedly been rendered immobile by events, those eyes were very much aware. The man lowered his head and returned to staring at the scarf in his hand.

"The tree opposite the window at the near end of the garden." Very softly said. Barely audible.

Oddvar caught himself from turning around to look. "Yes?"

"There are gulls in it, white-headed, black-backed, similar to the ones delivering. In the dark, one of them left it to come up to the window and look in. That's what made me go out. This morning, there were seven that I could see. Now there are four."

Oddvar leaned forward as though he were trying to get through to the man. "They're reporting back to Moastifer."

"I think so."

"That you're so overwhelmed that you're positively useless."

"Not far from the truth."

"Have you told anyone here...of course you haven't. They would tell Finnbogi and, subtle though he is, he might set things off." He thought a moment. "Yes, all right. I'll speak to my Head of Security. The Villagers are scattered throughout the area and if they should happen to see a gull flying away from here... The direction alone would be of great help."

Oddvar patted Severus's arm. "I think you should allow yourself to be fed by Eirik." He cut off Severus's refusal. "He needs to do something for you and it would ease Freya. Besides, we have no idea just what the next hours will bring. You'll need all your strength."

Oddvar had a few words with Ketil who prepared a rich broth. Eirik, not certain that Severus would co-operate, brought the bowl in and was relieved when Severus accepted each spoonful.

The third seagull arrived just before five. Unlike the others, once it had delivered its message, it flew to join the now lone gull in the garden tree.

The message contained convoluted directions which had Elder Hillswick, who happened to be there reporting, shaking his head. "I can only guess but that seems to lead to Ramna Stacks. There are only a few Muggles living there, none of us. It's a very small island, more rock than anything else. I think they run a few sheep on it."

"There's a time limit. I have to be there by six. And I have to follow the route he's indicated."

Elder Hillswick shook his head. "That'll be cutting it close."

Severus was on his way to his broomstick when he noticed Eirik alongside him. "No. He says alone." And with that, Severus pushed off the ground and took to the air, instructions in hand.

Oddvar managed to grab his son before he could follow. "Wait!"

"Wait? Why the bloody hell should I wait? He's going off into Odin knows what and you want me to WAIT?"

Oddvar winced at his son's scream of rage. He signalled his men and Security surrounded them. "Wait!"

"For what? For Severus and the boys to die?"

"No, for those gulls to leave, as they are."

Oddvar and his Head of Security watched as the two birds flew off in Severus's direction. Then the Head turned to Elder Hillswick. "Ramna Stacks. Is there a way we can approach it from a direction different from the one Professor Snape will be using?"

Five minutes later, with Elder Hillswick and three other elders at his side, the Head took off with two of his men. Luc went with them, flying with Harry, Eirik and Finnbogi.

Oddvar hadn't been allowed to join them, after a sharp discussion with his Head. He agreed to remain at the house and wait with Freya.

"He hasn't had any of his Wolfsbane," said Bera to Oddvar and Freya. "Alexander, that is. In spite of everything, I managed to get all the others to drink theirs, but Alexander hasn't had any this month. And moonrise today is just after 6:30."


Part Seven

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