She drifted off to sleep, still clutching Severus’ pillow. Her dreams were torture, images of Severus walking away from her, which faded into a graveyard at the edge of Hogsmead. In the dream she walked through the graveyard, pausing by the graves of her parents. But she didn’t stay there long, she kept walking towards the far corner, she could just make out the name on a small granite stone, she felt her heart constrict with unspeakable sorrow…

And then she was jolted awake. Morgan sat up blinking her eyes against the sudden glare of light, “Misty?” she asked in a groggy voice as she stared at the small house elf perched on the end of the bed, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Oh Mistress Snape, it is not Misty’s fault ma’am, I was not there. My master, my dear Master Snape he is… he is… dead!”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bad luck mate, I guess it’s just not going to happen, I think you just set your sites a bit too high this time. We both knew that Celeste would never go for someone like you,” William hoped that this would be the end of Kamen’s scheme to get with the head girl.

“Oh, this is far from over, I can be very patient,” Kamen fiddled with the label on the bottle of Firewhiskey he had someone managed to procure. “Celeste just doesn’t know she wants me yet, she’ll be my biggest triumph yet.”

“What’s the matter brother dear,” Dierna used an overly false sympathetic tone as she flopped down on the couch next to him, the Snape siblings along with William and Nick were the only ones left in the Gryffindor common room at this late hour, “are you upset because you finally realized that not all girls think you’re a god? We’ve known that for years, you’re just a slimy, ugly…” she was cut off when Kamen attempted to smoother her with a pillow.

“Cut it out you guys!” Serena snapped.

“What’s her problem?” Kamen asked as he abandoned his attempt to smoother Dierna.

“Oh come on, don’t you pay attention to anything Kamen?” Dierna asked in exasperation, “We have our quidditch match against Hufflepuff this weekend, the one that she’s not allowed to play in, she’s been like this for days now.”

“Hey isn’t it past your bedtime?” Kamen asked as he threw a pillow at Nimue, who was curled up in a chair reading.

“Don’t tell me what to do Kamen,” she responded as she threw the pillow back at him.

“You little…”

However, the ensuing argument was cut off when the portrait hole opened and Morgan stepped through it, followed by a small, filthy house elf. “I was hoping you would all still be up,” Morgan addressed her children, “we need to talk.”

“I’m gonna head up,” William said, trying to give the family some privacy, he had noticed the strained look on Mrs. Snape’s face, “you coming Nick?”

As soon as the two boys had headed up to their dormitories Morgan took a seat on a sofa opposite the one Kamen, Serena, and Dierna were on and wrapped her arms around Nimue who had sat down next to her.

Morgan began without preamble, “children, I want you to know that your grandfather died tonight, his house elf Misty, brought me the news just a short while ago.”

“Why the hell should we care?” Kamen spat out angrily, “that old git didn’t give a damn about any of us, we never even met him.”

“Nevertheless, I thought you should know. I haven’t been able to reach your father to tell him yet, and I need to tell you that I’m not sure how he’s going to take the news; this is his father we are talking about. Now you know that your father and grandfather have never gotten along…”

“I think Dad used the phrase, ‘I’ll reconcile with that bloody bastard when the Ministry is run completely by house elves.” Kamen inserted.

“Alright, so they hated each other,” Morgan admitted, “and I’ll agree that the one time I met Tiberius, I found him to be completely disagreeable and an utter… well, the point is I want you to be considerate of your father’s feelings on this matter.”

“Whatever, I think Dad will be happy that the git finally kicked the bucket,” Kamen lazily replied.

“Kamen! Now this is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about,” Morgan frowned at her son.

“Mum, does this mean that we have a house elf now?” Nimue asked as she indicated Misty, who was standing off to the side, fingering the filthy shredded remains of the tea towel she had wrapped around herself like a toga.

“Yes it does, Misty is here because she will continue to serve the Snape family, however...”

“Excellent, does that mean we don’t have to clean our own rooms anymore?” Dierna interrupted her mother.

“However,” Morgan continued, “you are not to abuse the change in situation. That means that you still have to clean your own rooms,” she ended with a slight smile.

~~~~~~~~~~

“The sky is beautiful tonight,” Meg said as she leaned against Charlie. Their dinner together had been wonderful, and Meg was delighted that they had been able to spend the evening together, free from interruption.

“Meg, there is a more serious reason to why I came home tonight,” Charlie said slowly.

“What is it?” Meg clutched her husband’s calloused hand.

Charlie gently ran his other hand over the soft contours of his wife’s face, “here, sit down.” He took her to a bench and waited till they were seated, his arm around her shoulders, before continuing, “There was another attack today.”

“Oh Charlie! Who was it this time?”

“A small group of muggles, and…”

“And...” Meg gently prompted him.

“And John McIan.”

“But he was the head of your father’s staff at the Ministry.”

“I know, things are starting to hit a little closer to home now, I don’t like it,” Charlie pulled Meg closer to him.

“What is the Ministry going to do?”

“Nothing, for now.”

“Nothing?! How can they just stand by and…?”

“Meg darling, calm down. There is nothing to be done right now, not until we have the names of the spies who have infiltrated the Ministry. And once Dad has those names he’s still not free to act. If the spies are dismissed they’ll simply go to whoever is leading this new uprising, and if they’re sent to Azkaban… well… if they could get Voldemort out, then no prisoners are secure there anymore.”

“So we can’t count on the Ministry for help…” Meg leaned against Charlie’s chest.

“Not for now at least.”

“Then what are we going to do about it?”

“Meg, I don’t want you…”

“Dammit Charlie, I’m thinking about our family!” Meg cut him off fiercely, “I will not let our children be harmed, not matter what it takes! I will not sit idly by when I could be doing something, I was a member of the Order and I’m prepared to fight again!”

“No Meg, there are other ways. Now don’t interrupt me for a moment,” Charlie gently hushed his wife, “First off, you are to do nothing to put yourself in harms way. Besides,” Charlie hurriedly continued when he saw that his wife was ready to jump down his throat again, “Minerva is already on top of the situation.”

“What does Minerva have to do with this?” Meg asked quietly.

“Right now the attacks that have occurred have been sporadic and ill-planned. We have a general consensus that these dark forces are still very disorganized. But, there is no doubt that once these dark forces get some more followers and become a bit more organized they will start focusing their attacks. Meg darling, we know from… our sources… that those that they consider traitors or those who were or are members of the Order will be their first targets.

“If things get to the point where we have to worry about systemized attacks, then Minerva is going to have the families of all faculty moved to Hogwarts, along with several key members of the Order, as a safety precaution.”

Silence reigned for several long moments. Neither husband nor wife spoke, or needed to, they simply held each other.

“Charlie,” Meg finally began tentatively, “this isn’t just going to be random attacks on muggles. People are going to die, good witches and wizards. I just have this feeling… it’s going to be like last time, we’re going to lose friends and family, and no matter how hard we fight, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Connor stood in the dark dungeon corridor just outside the Slytherins common room. He leaned against the dank wall, gazing intently at the small vial in his hand. The deep crimson liquid reminded him of blood. A slow smile spread across his face as he gripped the vial tighter. His father had given him explicit instructions, but now it was up to him to do the rest.

He narrowed his eyes as he heard a sound further down the hallway, but it was only that Prefect Mark, whom Connor despised, and his new shadow Brandon Potter. Connor glared at them as they passed him and went into the common room. How he would love to take care of them, but that would have to wait. He had other orders.

Connor directed his attention back to the vial in his hand, “it’s a shame,” he muttered to himself, “not the target I would have chosen, but I suppose it will have to do. But then again, it is rather fitting…”

He tucked the vial into his pocket, “after all, poison is queen.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Remus, has Kalliope ever told you anything about my parents?”

“No.”

“Oh…” Sophia looked crestfallen.

“Was there something in particular that you wanted to know?”

“No, it’s just that the only thing Kalliope has ever told me is that they abandoned me, and I know that she knows more than that! I thought that since the two of you… well, I thought she might have told you more.”

Remus studied Sophia’s profile in the dim candle light, “if your mother hasn’t told you any more details about your birth I’m sure she has her own reasons.”

Sophia cocked her head to the side, “why did you refer to Kalliope as my mother?”

“She’s raised you since you were an infant, I would have thought that you saw her as your mother,” Remus answered calmly.

“It’s not fair!” Sophia cried, “I don’t think Kalliope even wants to be my mother! All the other priestesses have daughters, and they are always together, Kalliope always sends me off to work in the temple away from her. She refuses to let me be initiated as a priestess even though all the other girls my age in the temple were initiated a year ago. And if my father really were a member of one of the tribes, like Kalliope says he is, I think I would know it.

“I mean, most of the girls know exactly which one of the warriors sired them, and even though no man can lay claim to a daughter of the goddess, then men still bring back trinkets and loot for their daughters. I have no one.”

Remus slid his arm around the trembling girl as she cried, “maybe Kalliope is a bit more protective of you than she is of the other girls because she loves you more. I’ve heard her comment about the amount of stress that goes with becoming a full-fledged priestess; maybe she’s just trying to save you from that pain until she thinks you’re ready to handle it.”

“Remus,” Sophia sniffed, “if I ever meet my father, I hope he’s exactly like you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wake up!” Dierna hit Serena over the head with her pillow.

“Get off me!” Serena growled back, as she tried to burrow herself further down into her blankets.

“We have Herbology this morning, I need to look at your homework before we go down to the greenhouses, mine isn’t quite finished.”

“Do your own bloody homework and let me sleep.”

“Come one! I’ll help you with our Potions essay if you let me copy your homework,” Dierna coaxed sweetly.

“You gave me your cold; I don’t have to do anything for you.”

“I did not give you my cold,” Dierna shot back, “but I am going give you a pillow in the face if you don’t get up now.”

“If feel miserable,” Serena buried her face in her pillow, “I think I’m dying.”

“You are not dying, stop being so over dramatic.”

“Am too dying,” was Serena’s muffled response.

“Get up!” Dierna pounced on her twin.

“I’m up, I’m up! Just get off of me!”

~~~~~~~~~~

“What are the flowers for?” William eyed the bouquet warily. He couldn’t help but think that Kamen was up to something.

“They’re for Celeste.”

“Celeste?”

“Yes, Celeste. You know, the Head Girl, whose skirt I’ve been trying to get into all year… ring a bell?”

“Yeah, I just thought you were going to try an indirect approach,” William hoped that Kamen wasn’t going to try and recruit him for anything.

“Nope, I already tried that. My plan of getting Celeste through Andromache Weasley failed when Nick bailed on me, and since you won’t help on that front, I’ve had to step things up a notch.”

“So, what are you going to do? Or do I not want to know?”

“It’s simple, she’ll just see what a great guy I am and fall for me.”

“You sure we’re talking about the same girl?”

“Of course, there isn’t a girl in this school who is immune to my charms,” Kamen said as he rearranged the liquor collection on top of his trunk.

William grinned, “Really? Because I was pretty sure that your sisters were pretty immune to your ‘charms’.”

“They don’t count.”

“Care to put a wager on it?”

Kamen flashed a lopsided grin at his best friend, “of course, you wanna set the terms, or should I?”

“I’ll set them. Fifteen galleons says that you can’t get her to go on a date with you before Christmas.”

“You’re on, and I hope you’re prepared to lose.”

~~~~~~~~~~~