Olivia quickly tried to hide the string of beads behind her back. “Get what?” she looked up with innocent eyes.
Draco held out his hand and waited while the silent battle of wills played out. He raised one blond eyebrow when Olivia glared defiantly up at him. But he had the most patience by far, and when his charge realized that he had his wand ready to accio it from her she reluctantly handed it over.
Draco frowned as he examined the blue-green beads. They had all sorts of symbols carved on them that glowed with a faint gold light, they were obviously spells of some sort… “Where did you get this?” he repeated his earlier question.
Olivia shrugged.
“Olivia, tell me where you got this,” Draco tried again more firmly. He was met with more stubborn silence. He sighed, he didn’t want to have to threaten her to get answers, but he would if he had to. And by the obstinate look in the little girl’s eyes he had a feeling that was what it was going to come to.
“Can I have it back now?” Olivia reached for the necklace.
“No,” Draco continued to examine the beads. There was something vaguely familiar about them. He felt as though he might recognize the symbols from somewhere, but he couldn’t quite place it.
Olivia pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. She was upset at this confiscation of the latest present from her friends. They had given it to her!
“I’m only going to ask you one more time Olivia,” Draco tucked the beads into his pocket and looked down at his charge, arms crossed over his chest, “where did you get the beads?”
Olivia cast her eyes downward, she didn’t want to tell… but she had already learned that it wasn’t wise to cross her new tutor. He wasn’t one to let her get away with anything once he made a decision. “From my friends…”
“What friends?”
“The ones I play with.”
Draco rolled his eyes and tried not to show his exasperation too much. “Which friends, Olivia?”
“The ones I met down by the lake.”
Warning bells started to go off in Draco’s head. “How long have you known them?” He knelt down in front of Olivia and put his hand on her shoulders, having to work very hard to keep from shaking the answers out of her more quickly.
“I don’t know… for awhile…”
“What do they look like?”
“The lady is really pretty, and a man comes with her. They’re both nice, they bring me things.”
“Sweet Merlin…” Draco buried his face in his left hand as his mind raced back over the facts again and again. “Have they ever told you their names?”
“No,” Olivia wiggled away from the one hand that was still holding her in place, “can I have my necklace back now?”
“No, I can’t let you have it back,” Draco started to stand, but remained on his knees as another thought struck him, “have they given you anything else.”
Olivia, who had been taught to always be truthful, didn’t outright deny that they had. She remained silent. However, the large tears forming in her big blue eyes told the truth. “I knew you wouldn’t want me to see them anymore if I told you about them. Don’t make me stop…”
“Olivia, you are not to see them anymore, ever! You are to stay away from the lake,” Draco’s voice had a hard, desperate edge. If the demons had been by the lake… there was no telling how much information they had by now. There was so much they could have gotten out of Olivia without her even realizing that she was giving away secrets to the enemy.
“They said they would protect me, they’re my friends!” A single tear spilled over as Olivia pouted, upset over the apparent loss of her friends… her only real friends. She didn’t want to stop seeing them.
“Olivia,” Draco cradled her face between his hands as he continued to kneel in front of her, “they are not your friends…”
“They are too!”
“They are not. And you won’t be seeing them again.”
“I will too!” Olivia twisted herself out of Draco’s grasp and ran as fast as her little legs would carry her. Draco may have had a size advantage. But Olivia had a head start and knew secret passageways that the former Slytherin had long forgotten about. In no time at all she was barreling her way down to the lake, hoping that her friends would be there to dry her tears.
~~~~~~~~~~
“No, that’s not right, you’ve got the sequence of reactions backwards, start again from here,” Dierna pointed midway down the parchment. She was mindful to keep her voice low as she very barely raised her eyes to where their father was working at his desk. He didn’t appear to be listening. Although she did cringe a bit. The red ink was flowing like blood tonight… again… whatever class’s assignments he was working on would be rather downcast when they got their papers back. Always a harsh grader, he’d gotten worse lately. Dierna had found that even she was having trouble keeping her grade up.
Serena sighed, “I don’t know how you can look at it and just know what I’m doing wrong…” she took her Potions homework back and scratching off and rewriting a good portion of the last half.
Dierna shrugged, “call it a gift,” she muttered. Another red slash, and another. She grimaced a bit as she watched her father’s black quill continue to rain down a torrent of criticisms. She couldn’t get the memory of today’s Potions class out of her head. That moment of realization that her father had been a Death Eater for reasons beyond spying. That same dark aura still clung to him. She almost imagined that the miasma was visible…
“Here,” look at it now, Serena thrust the corrected parchment back at her sister, who took it distractedly. She followed her twin’s gaze, “I know,” she whispered as she clutched Dierna’s hand. She wanted to comment further on what had happened in class, but didn’t want to chance being overheard. So, she held her silence because there was nothing else to do.
Dierna’s head shot up as the door opened. There were precious few people who knew how to get around the wards here. Although that number was dropping precariously… their mother… she sighed… and Viviane had been banished, and she didn’t think her sister was brave enough, Gryffindor or no, Snape or no, to come back to face their father while he was like this. And Kamen had all but stopped coming, at least down here. He made regular visits to the Hospital Wing, but avoided their father. That left Olivia… but it wasn’t Olivia that came through the door. It was Draco Malfoy. His normally neat clothing was mused, and his hair falling into his face.
Serena squeezed Dierna’s hand with nearly bone-crushing strength. Olivia wasn’t with him. And he looked like… well… like he had been to hell and back.
“Professor… a word, and quickly,” Draco jerked his head at Dierna and Serena indicating that he would like privacy for the news he had to deliver.
“Out!” Severus barked the one word at his daughters.
They took no time in scurrying out of their seats and out into the hallway. “Damn… I can’t hardly hear anything…” Dierna cursed the silencing charms and tried to drop them. It didn’t really work. With her and Serena casting together the best they could do was weaken them.
It wasn’t enough to let them hear what was being said, only catch a few stray words. But they were words that made Dierna’s heart race. Missing… lasas… spies… searched for hours…” She was about to try another spell in hopes of hearing more when the door flew open.
“Inside, and stay there,” Snape ordered.
Dierna had never wanted to disobey an order more. And she had never been more afraid to. It was a terrible predicament to be in. But, her common sense kicked in long enough that she managed, barely, to obey, and she dragged Serena along behind her.
“I already checked the lake once,” Draco said as soon as the door shut behind the twins, “and I have the House Elves looking.”
“Why didn’t you notice that something was wrong earlier than this?” Severus snapped as he mounted the stairs, robes billowing around him in a cloud of black.
Why didn’t you?! Draco wanted to scream. “I have done the best I can, and I know that at times it hasn’t been enough,” he opted for instead. He squinted at the sudden brightness as they went through a side door and out into the bright glare of the setting orange sun. The water off the lake was like a mirror as it reflected back the sun harshly.
“There,” Severus said, indicating a bit of movement down by the lake.
Both men picked up there speed a bit. “There’s more than one person,” Draco barely caught the extra figures through the strong light of the sun. Both men broke into a run. It barely occurred to Draco as he ran through the dead grass and sparse scattering of snow that it was far too quiet. Not even the noise of a single bird to accompany the dull thud that his and Snape’s boots made on the frozen ground.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion to the blond man as they raced down the slope to the lake. He was just able to make out the three figures down by the water. The first was obviously Olivia. The other two were more difficult to discern, both adults… as he got closer he could see that one was a woman, he was trying to identify these intruders when the other figure, he could tell now it was a man, looked up and saw them.
Draco cursed, “they’re running,” he shouted as he picked up speed. By now the sun was just about ready to dip below the horizon and he couldn’t tell if they had taken Olivia or not. He skittered to a stop on rocky shore and looked to the sky, wand raised, ready to blast the Lasas to pieces as they fled. But at that moment the sun was right in front of him and the glare off the lake was blinding, he had to shield his eyes and look away. He kicked a rock into the offending lake as he cursed the Lasas for getting away so easily.
At least Olivia was still on the shore.
“You scared them away!” Olivia cried out, tears welling up in her eyes. “They were my friends and you scared them away! They might not come back now!”
“Olivia they were not your friends…” Draco began, as he took several steps towards the little girl.
“You will not be seeing them again,” Severus got there first, his voice rock hard and as cold as the ice that clung to the edges of the lake. Draco missed the rest of the conversation as he turned once again to the sky, looking for any sign. He did hear enough though to know that Snape was not happy, and that the situation was probably not being handled in the best possible manner.
“But they’re my friends!”
“They are not your friends!” Severus’ temper snapped as he reached for Olivia, but she twisted away from him and sprinted towards back towards the castle.
Draco hesitated to see if Snape would follow her. But he made no move, “should I catch up with her?” he finally asked, knowing that he should but not wanting to anger the potions master any further.
“Do as you wish,” Severus snapped sharply as he started towards the castle. He willed his mind back to the work he had to finish by tomorrow, there were still several classes’ worth of papers to grade, a task that he never enjoyed. School work was better than thinking of Morgan or his children. It didn’t produce the grief that they did. It was an escape.
Draco sighed and wondered if perhaps he should have let Voldemort capture him after all. It was obvious to him that the Dark Lord was succeeding. It was only a matter of time before Severus Snape would self destruct. He only hoped that it wasn’t one of the children who found him when it happened.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Honestly, I don’t think the dragons are worth all this. They certainly didn’t stop the Death Eaters when they decided they were really going to attack,” Poppy’s voice was slightly muffled as she searched through her supplies for something strong enough to give her patient some relief, but not wanting to use the strongest of her medicines.
“That’s alright Poppy,” Charlie said through gritted teeth, “I understand, and anything has to be better than nothing.”
“Nonsense!” the nurse turned to face him, her left hand on her hip while she brandished a half empty bottle of deep red liquid. “You nearly got your arm burnt off by one of those horrible beasts, I’ll not have you complaining that you came to see Poppy and she couldn’t do a thing for you.” She turned her back on him and carefully, very carefully, measured out a small beaker full of the red liquid before returning the bottle, just as carefully, to its rightful place.
They were finally starting to see the consequences of war. And they went far beyond the danger of Muggles finding out about their world. There were shortages. No matter that they, mainly the Order, stressed how quickly Voldemort could become a threat to the wizarding world over, their allies were few and far between. Their fellow wizarding communities, even the ones as close as mainland Europe, had refused aid. This was why they were trying so hard to recruit allies among other magical peoples, their own had abandoned them. And with that refusal of aid came a decline in trade.
The more uncommon potions’ ingredients were getting hard to find. And even common ones that weren’t native to Britain. True, one could apparate to other wizarding colonies and purchase them from their point of origin. But anyone with a British accent was treated with suspicion. And going straight to the source… that could be dangerous, or only done at certain times of day or at certain points in the moon cycle, and any other number of reasons.
Poppy’s supply cabinet was starting to take a hit. She had to be very careful with what she handed out. If there were a siege, or a battle of any great scale… she wasn’t at all confidant that she would be able to treat anyone. Certain things, such as Pepperup Potion, she had enough of to last for the probably the rest of her career. The shortages were in more alarming areas, such as strong pain relievers and burn ointments…
She handed the beaker to Charlie, “don’t you dare waste a single drop. If you do I’ll have your wife up here so fast…”
“That’s a formidable threat,” Charlie joked, although even after drinking the pain reliever his voice was still tense with pain, “a Weasley woman on the warpath is a definite danger.” He snorted, “you know, I always had a feeling that if my mother had been in charge the first time around, Voldemort would never have even come to power.”
“If more wizards were as forward thinking as you, Mr. Weasley, our society would be a very different place.”
“If more witches were as demanding as you, no wizard would ever dare to put so much as a toe out of line,” Charlie returned, a bit more easily as the pain reliever began to take effect and the burn ointment began to heal his battered flesh.
From his place in bed Eric smiled to himself. Although it didn’t sound like it, as far as he was concerned Charlie’s last comment had been high praise for the mediwitch. His esteem for Poppy grew more with every passing day, and he found himself in a position he had not been in for many years. It was very different than it had been before, there was no passion, no sense of adventure. This was quiet, and slow, and comfortable… but it was still love.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Where are you going?”
Olivia set down her bag, “away.”
“Why?” Sirius looked down at the little girl, eyebrow raised questioningly.
“Because no one needs me, and I’m bad luck.”
“Now what would make you say that?”
“I’ve lost one mother and my new one is dying, I’m not staying around if I’m going to keep losing families. And now my friends can’t come here anymore, so I’m going to have to go find them on my own.”
“So,” Sirius tried to choose his words carefully, “where do you plan on going?” He hadn’t the faintest idea what her last statement was referring to, so he didn’t know how worried he should be.
She shrugged, “not sure yet.” She stroked her shell bracelet softly with her right hand, where it hung on her left wrist. It was the one link she still had to her friends, and she was going to use it to find them… somehow… At least they wanted her even if nobody else did.
“May I make a suggestion?” He waited until she nodded to continue, “Don’t head in the direction of the Forbidden Forrest, that’s only asking for trouble. If I were you I would try Hogsmeade, you could probably even find a job there. You will need a job to support yourself if you go off on your own.” He kept his voice just light enough, and with the right amount of conspiracy to it. If nothing else, he wanted to prove to the girl that someone was still on her side, even if he had no intention of letting her get any farther than the main entry way.
Olivia nodded solemnly, “alright, that’s where I’m going then.” She picked up her bag again, her little shoulders squared determinedly.
“One more thing Olivia,” Sirius said to her turned back, “I know Severus has been cold and distant, and perhaps hasn’t had the kindest things to say recently. But he still loves you. And with Nimue in Greece, Viviane and Kamen out on their own, and the twins graduating this year, you’re all he has left.” He couldn’t believe he was defending Snape like this, but continued on anyways, “he doesn’t mean all of the mean things he says, but he’s trying, and doing the best he knows how. You may be too young to understand this, but Morgan is his heart and soul, I’d be willing to wager that your father just doesn’t know how to function without her. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t need you. I think he needs you very much.”
Olivia nodded, but still headed up the stairs.
Sirius let her get a little ways ahead of him before following. He was going to make sure that she didn’t get out of the school, but was hoping that someone else stopped her before he stepped in again. He paused for a moment when he saw Draco come out of a room up ahead and start talking to Olivia. There were times when he still found it hard to trust the younger man, but he decided to walk away and let Malfoy deal with the runaway.
~~~~~~~~~~
