"Draco?" Tevin said quietly from their place in front of their cauldron, where he lazily stirred their concoction.

"Hmm?" the blonde responded. He looked as glum as Tevin felt.

"Did your dad change his mind yet? About Durmstrang?"

Draco's expression darkened and his finger stopped guiding his reading in the potions book. He blinked and then quietly sighed. "No."

"So, you're still going there and not Hogwarts?"

Draco nodded. Both boys hated to discuss this topic. "Mother wants me to go to Hogwarts. She wants me to stay close to home. But Father wants me to go to the best school he could think of...and that's Durmstrang."

Tevin brought up the same argument he always used in this conversation. "But you like Hogwarts."

Draco responded the same as always. "I like Durmstrang, too, but..."

This was the first time that word ever came into Draco's response. "But?" Tevin prompted.

"But you and Uncle Severus are at Hogwarts."

The two best friends looked at each other for a moment before Draco's attention was caught by a commotion in the driveway across the street. It was a family of three, just like his except that they were completely dissimilar to his family. For instance, they were obviously muggles if the large machine in front of their home was anything to judge them by. The woman was very thin, while the man was rather plump. The child, on the other hand, looked like his entire body suffered the swelling jinx! Draco swore that if he gave the boy a shove, he'd roll wherever he pushed him. The mental image made Draco snort.

"What, Draco?"

"That!" the blonde said, pointing out of the window at the family across the street. "Look at that!"

Tevin looked out of the window. "It's just some family..."

"Of fat muggles!" Draco began to snicker to himself. "And you wonder why my family doesn't like muggles!" Tevin began to uneasily laugh. "Because of people like that! Muggles are an embarrassment in the world everywhere. They really shouldn't be allowed anymore, really. They should all just go away forever - leave it all to us."

"Including muggleborns?"

"Of course, Snape! They don't really count in the Wizarding World."

Tevin looked down before he glanced again at the strange and loud family across the street as they all gathered into the car. It wasn't as though he hung around muggles completely, but he wasn't as prejudiced against them as the Malfoys. After all, Ophelia was muggleborn...

Draco seemed to think of that fact at the same time. "Except your mother. She's alright. She doesn't count as muggleborn, really..."

Ophelia and Arabella were in the next room from the two boys, spending time catching up with each other as the groomed the kneazles that were due at the Emporium in Diagon Alley by the beginning of December. This particular brood of kneazles was evenly tempered but extremely curious - too curious.

Arabella looked out of her window and saw once again that the family across the street still had one child in tow. She heaved a heavy sigh.

"What's wrong, Bella?"

Arabella shook her head as she ran her groomer's brush along the kneazle's bright orange fur. "There should be another child in that family. It makes me wonder what happened to the boy sometimes."

"Did he die?"

Arabella was confused. "Well, I never really found out. I was told I was supposed to keep an eye on the other boy, but I've never seen him."

"Then, how do you know that that-" She was about to say an unkind adjective. "-large boy isn't the one you were supposed to watch?" Suddenly, a spike of fear hit Ophelia. She suddenly remembered a phrase from a piece of parchment.

Years ago I charged you to watch over Harry Potter.
He will be in the care of the Dursleys in the near future.

The realization and connection made Ophelia nearly rip out the kneazle's fur as her arm jerked instinctively while she brushed him. The kneazle hissed at her and ran off into the next room. She was stunned. "Harry Potter." She barely saw Arabella look at her. "Harry Potter is supposed to live there." That family had to have been that of Lily's sister - Petunia! She stared out of the window for a second looking for any similarity between Lily and the blonde woman who was getting into the car. She saw nothing in common. But it had to be Petunia.

"He was supposed to be there. Dumbledore thinks he's found him again." Arabella continued to brush the kneazle, not noticing the tension in her cousin. "Wonder where the boy's been all these years."

Ophelia tried not to look in the next room where Draco and Tevin were brewing potions. She could not afford to even give Arabella a hint. She looked at her cousin, trying to study her, wondering just whose side she would be on if she were to know. Would she go running to Dumbledore? Would she keep quiet and be another on the inside - one of the few who knew Tevin's other identity? At that moment, Ophelia realized that she had no idea.

It was a revelation that frightened her.

"I don't know."

Arabella snorted. "Very odd that a boy like that could just vanish off the earth for this long, and no one knows about him, isn't it?"

Arabella was asking too many questions. Ophelia needed to change the subject, but she couldn't find a safe topic. Not with the terrible thoughts of how things could go wrong so quickly spiraling through her mind. "And why his family hasn't been looking for him."

"Never liked them much," her cousin said. "Spoil their boy rotten." She gestured out of the window with her brush. "Just look at him!"

Ophelia looked but she didn't really look at the rotund boy. She looked at Petunia. She wondered just what sort of life Tevin would have had if he had been raised by his magic-hating aunt. She remembered Severus telling her that Lily's sister disdained the magic that the two of them could do. Not because it was exactly evil, but more because she herself could not do it. What would have happened to Tevin? It was for everyone's best interest that Severus snatched his own son from Petunia's front step. She doubted Tevin would be as pleased with his young life in his aunt's care as he was with his father.

"Mister Snowflake," called Arabella, as she left her grooming table looking for the extremely fluffy white kneazle. "You're the last one!"

Ophelia came out of her reverie at that. How long she'd been lost in thought looking out the window at Petunia's house and family she could not be completely sure. Whatever it was, it was far too long.

"He's in here!" shouted Tevin from the other room.

Ophelia watched as Arabella seemed to ready herself for battle before going into the other room. "He hates getting brushed. I can never figure that out. Most kneazles like grooming time. And he runs away from me when I come for him." She started toward the other room. "You be ready at the table with that brush. He runs fast."

Ophelia laughed. "I'll be ready."

Arabella smiled back at her then started off on her hunt for Mister Snowflake.

The time seemed to go agonizingly slowly before she heard anything from the other room. But the silence was more than made up for when it sounded as though chaos broke out in the other room. It was laden with hissing, growling, and shouting.

"You were in charge of it! Can't even mix the thing without being distracted!"

"You're distracted, too."

"As if I could help being distracted with the spectacle those muggles make of themselves across the way."

"Boys! Stop. You're scaring Mister Snowflake."

"Bet he's scared of you, really."

"Draco! Shut it!"

There was a protesting hissing sound and a snarl that followed.

"I caught him, Aunt Bella!"

"Are you mad, Snape? Get it away from the cauldron!"

It was that sentence that sprung Ophelia into action. It did not seem that Draco's complaints were always valid, but in this case she agreed with him. She quickly headed toward the other room. But no matter how fast she moved, she could not slow the events just through the door.

"Give him to me!"

"The cauldron!"

"It's not his fault!"

"Draco, no! You'll burn your hands!"

Draco screamed. "Move, Snape!"

She had only gotten to the archway separating the two rooms before she was blinded. She grabbed onto the doorjamb for support. In that moment, she heard three distinct sounds.

The explosion itself.

Screaming.

And the sounds of bodies smashing against something solid as they were thrown by the explosion of the cauldron.

Then, there was silence.

She did not want to, but she had to open her eyes. She saw the blood, and she saw the three bodies on the floor. Once the image of the room settled in her mind, it was instinct and adrenaline that drove her forward. Ophelia knew that these injuries were beyond her ability - at least all of them at once. She needed to bring them to help. She saw that the boys were breathing, and that they were the least harmed. It was Arabella. Arabella lay in a pool of blood, the burned and charred body of her now dead kneazle in her soaked arms. She was not moving, her breathing was labored.

Ophelia grabbed hold of her cousin's arm and with a snap disappeared from the house to apparate her to the help she needed.

It was another snap that found her just outside of Saint Mungo's Hospital. The hospital seemed eerily quiet in her moments of near panic. She didn't even think to cry out for help. The only thing she noticed was the tiny sound that came from Arabella at her feet.

"Arabella!" she cried as she crumbled to the ground, managing to cradle her cousin's broken body.

"I can't," came the gurgled response. It was a terrible sound. It was in that moment that Ophelia realized there was damage to her cousin's lungs.

"We're at Saint Mungo's. I'm getting you help."

"-can't die yet."

Ophelia struggled with tears. "You're not going to die."

But Arabella didn't seem to notice Ophelia's presence anymore. "-Potter boy...must-" She coughed with the effort to speak. "-watch him. Dumble...dore said it's-" She coughed violently then, blood beginning to run from the corner of her mouth. "-important."

Ophelia couldn't even speak. She was frozen where she was. All she could do was say one word. "Help." Not even Ophelia knew if it was a cry for the medical staff of the hospital or if it was to reassure her dying cousin.

Arabella moaned softly in pain, her head lolling. Ophelia steadied her and looked into her eyes. "You're going to be fine," she said through clenched teeth. "I promise you'll be fine. Do you understand me?"

Arabella said nothing. She released the little air she managed to get into her drowning lungs, and let her eyes fall closed. Ophelia was chilled in terror. "No, no!" With an extreme surge of desperate strength, Ophelia rose to her feet with Arabella in her arms.

She walked only a few steps before she was overwhelmed with pain. She fell back to the ground with her burden, gasping. With dawning horror, Ophelia identified the source.

In her terror, Ophelia apparated back to Privet Drive with Arabella's body. She was not even certain if she could reverse this pain in which she now found herself, but if it were possible, she knew what she had to do. What she had to do was protect the two young boys who were within the wreckage of the parlor of her cousin's home.

But it did not change the simple horrifying reality that the long-faded marks on her hand no longer resembled scars.

Her right hand was burning.

It seemed like it took a long time before he could see clearly once he regained consciousness. It took even longer for him to remember exactly what had happened that brought him to where he was now. He remembered making a potion with Draco, then talking about the muggle family that lived across the street. Once he remembered the white kneazle that came running full speed into the room, the rest of what happened hit him seemingly all at once.

Mister Snowflake ran into the room, directly at them with Arabella behind him. Tevin helped her catch the animal, but it was angry, and it swished his tail in every direction as he squirmed frantically in his grip. It was the tail that had knocked the cauldron over. Draco had tried to stop that from happening, but in his instinctual reaction to keep the cauldron from tipping over and spilling the potion, he burned his bare hands on the very hot metal of the cauldron. Everything after that happened so quickly. The potion spilled from the cauldron, and it flowed directly into the flame that was heating it. Then, the explosion took them all in different directions, smashing Tevin into the stonework of the fireplace where he almost immediately lost consciousness. All he remembered in the moment that his vision was going dark was his best friend's scream.

Draco.

Tevin's eyes grew huge as he looked around the chaotic room. It hurt to move his head, so he turned his head slowly. When he noticed that his head hurt, he reached up carefully to check for injuries. He brought his hand back to look at it and saw that it was stained red. He was bleeding from his head. He looked dizzily at his hands, finding some minor scratches on them. They were also bleeding. It wasn't terribly serious, but his head might be. His whole body was throbbing in pain, but he didn't think he was bleeding anywhere else. He just hurt.

"Draco?" His voice sounded quiet even to himself.

He saw Draco but didn't hear him. With slow care and effort, Tevin began to crawl towards his friend. If he was hurt, it was very likely that Draco was too. "Draco?" he tried again. The blonde didn't make a sound.

"Fay?" Tevin called. He still sounded quiet to himself. "Fay!" he tried a little louder. He stopped crawling. The house was quiet. He didn't even hear the other kneazles moving in the house. It was as though they knew something bad had happened, and thought silence was the appropriate response.

Silence met him no matter what he did or what he said.

Tevin knew that he needed help. And he needed help now. Not only for himself, but for Draco. His crawling had gotten him far enough away from the fireplace to be able to see the objects on the mantelpiece. When he looked in that direction he briefly had the thought that it was a good thing the explosion hadn't thrown him directly into the fireplace. It was still burning. That was certainly lucky.

What was also lucky was that the floo powder container had ended up on the floor from the explosion!

Flooded with relief at this, Tevin began back to the fireplace right for the floo powder. He needed to get someone. His father was in class right now, and that room didn't have a fireplace. It was probably why many students complained that it was cold down there. Severus always countered their whining by telling them that if they were so desperate for heat that they should maybe work harder and directly above their cauldrons as it was why potions-brewers were never cold. They were always around heat when brewing. Most of the time, it silenced the students into obedience.

Tevin snatched a pinch of floo powder and tossed it into the flames. If Fay was unconscious here, and his father was in class, there was only one other person he could call for help. "Remus Lupin," he said, as clearly and loudly as he could. When the flames turned green, Tevin painfully shoved his bleeding head into the fire. He needed to talk to his godfather.

Ever since Tevin Snape came into his life, Remus was beginning to think he would never again know what a normal day entailed. It was one of the first times recently he was able to sit down quietly and try to do a little bit of reading. Except it was disturbed by none other than his godson.

"Uncle Remus?"

Remus was about to respond in his usual teasing manner, until he saw that his godson looked injured. That could only mean that he was the emergency contact of the moment. "Tevin? What in Merlin's name happened?"

Tevin looked at him very seriously, but as though he was exhausted. "There was an accident. Draco's not moving, and-and I got hurt."

Remus hurriedly closed his book and half tossed it onto his sofa. "I'm coming through right now." Tevin extended his hand through the green flames to his godfather. Remus took it and allowed Tevin to lead him through to Arabella Figg's home.

He quickly looked Tevin over, and realized that the head wound was probably the biggest concern. "Anything else hurt?"

Tevin nodded as he responded. "My hands are scratched, but that's it." He showed Remus his hands. "But Draco's worse. He hasn't even woken up yet."

Remus nodded and went over to the blonde. "Draco?" He touched the back of his hand to the unconscious boy's forehead. "Draco?" He noticed that there were several angry burns on all of the boy's exposed skin - his arms, hands, neck, and face. They were all oozing and bleeding. His hair was a mess. His breathing was alright, though. He was just badly burned and unconscious.
Remus looked at Tevin gravely. "I think we should get the two of you to Saint Mungo's." Tevin nodded. "Now, your father will definitely want to know what happened, so-" He drew his wand and flourished it very deliberately. "Expecto Patronum!" From the tip of his wand burst a silvery stream of light, which landed upon the floor and took shape as a wolf. When it was fully formed it was as though it were alive as it turned and looked at Remus, awaiting its instructions. Remus met the gaze of the Patronus wolf. "Go to Severus and tell him what happened." The wolf did not respond verbally, it did not nod. It simply turned and then ran straight through the walls of the house.

Remus looked again at his godson, who was staring at the wall where the wolf was last seen with an emotion akin to amazement. He took hold of Tevin's shoulder, and, with the least amount of pressure required for the process, grabbed Draco's upper arm. He closed his eyes and with a quiet snap the three of them disappeared from Arabella Figg's home...

...just as Ophelia Fay appeared cradling her hand and looking around frantically for two young boys.

"Five points from Hufflepuff," he barked as an explosion of black soot shot up from the pair's cauldron, staining the two completely. They didn't even feel the need to argue the point deduction. They knew they'd messed up.

A Ravenclaw snickered next to them. He couldn't help it. They looked hilarious like that! His lab partner and girlfriend, Judy Lewis, elbowed him hard to try to get him to stop, but it didn't do anything. However, his laughter died when he heard Professor Snape clear his throat right in front of his cauldron. "Would you like to lose points for your house, Mr. Alroy?"

Rufus Alroy sobered immediately. Judy glared at him. "No, Professor Snape."

Severus arched one eyebrow. "I thought not."

He was about to move on to Nymphadora Tonks's cauldron when a silvery wolf came running into the classroom, drawing gasps from the majority of the students and his full attention. The wolf came right up to him and looked directly into Severus's eyes.

"There was an accident. I don't know where Ophelia is or if anything happened to her, but I'm taking Tevin and Draco to Saint Mungo's. Draco is a little worse off than Tevin. I'll be waiting with them until you arrive. Don't worry, Severus, but I know you will." Then, the silver wolf dissolved from the classroom.

Instantly, all of the students began talking to each other. That is, all but one. "Professor," she said. Severus looked out of the corner of his eyes and saw the concerned gaze of Nymphadora Tonks. "Was that-" She hesitated, and then mouthed Remus's name.

Severus nodded at her. Then, his attention went back to the class. With a quick motion of his wand, he established stasis charms on all of the cauldrons in the room. "Class dismissed. All of you will return on your break periods tomorrow, or each student missing will be responsible for ten points removed from their houses."

With the sounds of his students groaning behind him, Severus left the classroom, and went directly to the fireplace in his office. Almost without stopping in his stride, he summoned floo powder directly to his hand, banished it into the fire, shouted his destination and was spinning away through green flames to Saint Mungo's Hospital.

Somehow, he was able to get the two boys to be treated in the same room on the third floor of Saint Mungo's. Quite an accomplishment, actually, considering he was not related to the blonde in any way! But when a man appears in Saint Mungo's with two young boys injured in a potions accident, the staff only really cares about helping those who need it. Remus sat in his chair between the two beds - Draco on his left and Tevin on his right. He would alternate his attention from Draco to Tevin and back repeatedly. It was just as he was looking over Draco that the door to the room flew open, and he nearly leapt from his chair in surprise. 

"How are they?" Severus asked immediately, ignorant that his entrance frightened Remus. He went directly to his son, and perched on the edge of the bed. His dark eyes ran over his small form mentally cataloguing every area he could see, taking note of every injury. With a tenderness that surprised Remus, Severus brushed the fringe of dark hair away from Tevin's face, letting his hand linger on the boy's cheek. This simple action reminded Remus exactly how precious his son was to Severus.

"They'll be fine," Remus whispered, still rocked by the realization. "They said it was good to have brought them in when I did. The potion they were brewing had become unstable and poisonous-" Severus flinched at the term. "-but it was found quickly enough and they were able to get the toxins out of both of them."

It was as though Severus suddenly remembered that Draco had been involved in the incident. He turned his head to look at the blonde from his place next to his son. "Have the Malfoys been told about Draco?"

Remus shook his head. "I don't know."

Severus nodded. "They need to be told, and..." He hesitated, then looked at Remus with an an unspoken apology in his eyes. "When they know, they'll leave everything to come to their son."

Remus understood what Severus wasn't exactly saying. "And I can't be here when that happens." Severus nodded. He breathed deeply before he stood. "Go and tell them. I'll be gone by the time you come back from that conversation."

"I'm sorry, Remus."

Remus came to stand beside his friend. "Don't be. I wouldn't want to be in the same room with the Malfoys long anyway. No offense to them."

Severus allowed himself a small grin. He brushed his son's hair back again, not hearing Remus begin to leave the room until he also stood from the edge of the bed. He rushed out after Remus. "Remus," he called. The other man turned in the corridor outside of the room to face him. "Thank you."

Remus's only reply was with a nod. Then, he turned and began to walk towards the door that led to the exit of Saint Mungo's Hospital. Severus watched his son's godfather leave through the doors before he went to the third floor's waiting area, intent on using the fireplace. He took a pinch of floo powder and tossed it into the fire. He had some distressing news for Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.

Remus left Saint Mungo's but he did not return to his flat. Something wasn't right about this whole situation. He knew that Severus usually supervised the boys during their potion brewing, unless - in most cases - he had classes to teach of detentions to sit through. If Severus was unable to supervise, then usually Ophelia would do so. If that was the case, there were only several possibilities.

The boys were secretly brewing a dangerous potion without telling anyone. This would definitely explain why no one else knew about it, and why Tevin had to resort to calling him for help.
But if no one knew about it, why would they be brewing at Arabella Figg's house? Wouldn't they be brewing somewhere else? A random room in Malfoy Manor - which would eliminate the need to call him for rescue if Draco's parents were right there? Spinner's End? Somewhere in Hogwarts? No.

They were at Arabella Figg's house because Ophelia was visiting her cousin. That had to be true. And if they were there, why would Tevin ask him for help and not Ophelia? She wasn't there when he'd arrived. What had happened to her?

Where was she now?

Remus needed to know why Ophelia wasn't the one that Tevin had gone to when he was hurt. He needed to go back to that house. He needed to know what happened.

Sometimes it was never fun to regain consciousness. "Why were they making such a dangerous potion in the first place?" bellowed his mother's voice. He knew that if his mother was there, than it was very likely his father was also there.

"The potion itself isn't dangerous-"

"Then how did Draco end up here like this?" came the venomous tone of his father.

"-only the reaction it had with direct contact to fire made it dangerous."

He felt a hand brush his hair away from his face. The hand was much too small to be his father's. It must be his mother. Either way, he couldn't muster up the strength to open his eyes to make sure.

"Are you implying to me that my son did this on purpose, Severus?"

There was a moment of silence, but only a moment. "Perhaps it escaped your notice that my son is also lying in this room with injuries."

The comment was ignored. "Draco would never be so foolish as to knock over a cauldron that was extremely unstable like that!"

Draco recognized the dangerous tone in which both his father and Tevin's spoke, particular when the latter responded, "And you believe mine is?"

"Both of you just stop!" whispered his mother, harshly. "They're both going to recover and from now on their potion-making will be monitored a little more closely." He heard the men in the room face his mother. "Can we all agree on that?"

Severus quietly agreed, while his father inhaled deeply. He was still very much annoyed by something. He only needed a moment to know what that was. "Where's your wife, Severus? Shouldn't she be here in distress over her son?"

At that point, Draco had had enough of his father nearly dueling with his friend's father. He decided it was time to make his consciousness known. He managed to moan just enough to get everyone's attention, and effectively stop conversation. "Draco! How are you feeling?"

"Horrid," he mumbled, without quite managing to get the words out. His mother ignored his poor pronunciation and pretended that she understood him perfectly. It didn't much matter to him, as he was far more interested in the bandages covering his hands and arms. He felt some on his neck as well, and a strange thick paste-like ointment on his face. "What happened, Mother?"

He only half listened as she told him what she knew about the incident. The rest of his attention was on his father and the older Snape, who were quietly talking to each other a few feet away from his bed. He was quite interested in what they were saying, as they both looked more and more worried as they continued to speak. After a moment or two, Severus raised his voice only a little, but enough for Draco to hear, "I don't know where she is, Lucius!"

Tevin's father then went and sat next to him on his bed. Draco wondered if Tevin had even woken up yet. He saw that Tevin's head had a bandage wrapped around it once. Probably to keep some sort of healing potion from getting all over the pillow if he tossed his head while he slept.

Draco's view of his friend was then blocked by the figure of his father coming to stand at his bedside. "Don't worry, Draco, we'll get you back home soon. The staff tells me that you were badly burned in your accident." Draco nodded, feeling sleep coming again. His mother's gentle stroking of his hair lulled him back to sleep.

Even before he was fully aware of his surroundings, he heard his name called out. "Remus!" He looked in the direction from which she cried, and then he saw her. Ophelia was crumbled into herself on the floor of the destroyed parlor. Beside her was Arabella. Remus rushed to them, and noticed immediately the stillness of Arabella. He touched her neck, her jugular...Nothing. There was no pulse.

"She's dead, Remus!" Ophelia growled at him.

He had never heard her sound like this. He took her in with his eyes. She looked haggard. Her hair had come loose and hung like drapes around her face. Her features were twisted in a fierce grimace. There was dirt on her clothing. But the two most important things he noticed in her form before him were the tears streaking her face, and how she clutched her right hand to her chest. It was that hand that caught his attention the most. She held it to her tightly with her left hand, but it could not disguise the blood that was seeping through. "Ophelia..." His voice died as he began to reach for her bleeding hand.

She pulled violently away from him, but her quick movement unbalanced her. Remus steadied her instinctively. "You're hurt. What's wrong?"

"Remus," she said in a whispered exhale. "My head hurts. It's..."

Remus reached out one hand to touch her gently. "You're burning up. You might have a fever."

He was now growing more and more concerned with every moment. "What else is wrong?" She shook her head slowly. "You have to tell me."

When she looked at him it wasn't with pain, but with resignation. "Every muscle in my body hurts, and-" Her determined expression finally forfeited its strength. "Remus, I-I think I broke my vow. I think I broke my Unbreakable Vow."

It took him a moment to understand. She looked down at her bleeding hand, and he followed her attention to it as well. She took away her left hand so that he could see the right one. The marks that had remained faint on her hand from the day she swore the Unbreakable Vow were not only completely visible now, but they were the angriest red he'd ever seen a wound. They looked like three vicious scratches from a feral beast, running jaggedly along her hand. These marks were bleeding profusely, and they pulsed with her heartbeat in a bright red glow.

He drew his wand and was about to speak a healing spell. She grabbed his wrist with her uninjured hand. They locked gazes. "It won't help. You know what happens now. You can't break and Unbreakable Vow."

He shook his head, denying that this was happening. How could this have happened? "What can I do?"

Ophelia couldn't hold back her tears. She shook her head, at a loss for how to answer him.

"But you're in pain."

"Yes."

Remus nodded. Despite the blood covering them, he took her hands. He watched her take a deep breath and close her eyes. If he couldn't save her, then maybe he could make her comfortable. He closed his eyes and in the next moment both Remus and Ophelia disappeared from the house, leaving Arabella's body behind.

He woke up when Lucius's voice was right above his head. "Go home, Severus." He looked up at his blonde friend, whose expression was sympathetic. "You have classes tomorrow morning, don't you?"

Severus ignored the question. "Tevin hasn't woken up yet."

Lucius sighed. "He knows you've been here with him."

"I should be here when he wakes up."

The protest this time came from Narcissa, who still remained at Draco's side. "But what use will you be if you're this exhausted?" She offered a gentle smile. "Tevin will understand."

Severus shook his head again. "My son is the most important thing to me, not my position at that school."

"And he knows that. But he also knows that you need that position, too, for him and for yourself." Lucius understood Severus's need to be at his child's side. But where he was able to ignore his professional obligations once in a while to tend to his family, he knew that Hogwarts professors were not usually given that luxury. And on that occasion, he felt compassion for his friend. "Go home, Severus. I'll let you know when he wakes."

Lucius helped Severus to his feet. "Very well," the dark-haired wizard complied after he was hauled halfway up. They had made it down the corridor toward the same fireplace that he'd called the Malfoys before Severus spoke again. "What about you? Will you leave as well?"

Lucius chuckled softly. "Well, being on the Board of Governors at times has its priviledges. Sick days, for example."

Severus realized that he was a little jealous of Lucius, just because he was able to take days off from his position. Dumbledore rarely allowed his staff time off. Severus assumed the Headmaster considered days without classes to be days off. Untrue. Those were the days typically set aside for staff meetings. Perhaps the headmaster was simply consumed by whatever work he did, and felt that all of his staff should function in the same way, regardless as to whether or not those staff members had families with whom they would much rather spend time.

By the time he'd had this realization, the flames of the fireplace were already green. "As soon as he wakes up, I'll let you know, Severus." And with that, Lucius gently urged the younger man into the green fire.

Severus stepped out of the fireplace that was in the parlor of his Hogwarts suite. It was quiet...very quiet. He then remembered. "Ophelia?" He went through the rooms of the suite, through his office and private labs, and - just in case - through the potions classroom. "Ophelia?"

She was not there.

He went back to the fireplace, tossed in some floo powder, and shouted, "Spinner's End, Snape Home," and was spinning off again through the fire, hoping that he would find his missing friend there.

Remus knew he was no healer, and with this task he had no ambition to ever become one. He had followed Ophelia's instructions as soon as they arrived at the house at Spinner's End. Together they'd managed to get her into a bed so that she could recline and be a little more comfortable. After that, her fever began to worsen. She'd told him what to do to try to bring her fever down, and it worked only a little. She was still in control of her own mind. She could still speak. "Keep me from delirium," was one of her many instructions, and Remus was determined to follow it.

He had pulled a chair up to her bedside, from which he was constantly administering potions and salves to her. He even helped her drink water. There were various bowls near them. Some on the bedside table, one on the floor to the right of the chair, another to the left, and one on the bed. The bowl on the bed contained Essence of Dittany. He would let her burning and bleeding hand rest submerged in the solution for several minutes, just long enough before the Unbreakable Vow's wounds began to rebel against the solution and sting rather than be soothed. Once it began to sting, he would remove her hand from the Dittany and wrap it in aloe leaves, the clear-yellow juices trying to stop the bloodflow. It was able to soothe the wounds for a brief time before they would only begin to bleed again. Then, back into the Dittany it went. This was delaying the bleeding, but it was certainly not stopping it. When she was not drinking water, he was bathing her forehead with a water-soaked cloth, and tipping a pain-reducing potion into her mouth.

"I have to speak to Severus," was what she kept repeating. As long as it was in his power, Remus was going to make sure she did that. He only hoped that he would return home before he was unable to keep her there. He did not know if Severus would leave his son.

"Ophelia?"

Both Remus and Ophelia looked to the doorway of the room. He heard her try to call for Severus. He was downstairs. He'd actually left Tevin at Saint Mungo's. It surprised yet relieved Remus. "Severus! Upstairs!"

He heard the footsteps and in only another few moments, there was a figure in the doorway to the bedroom. Remus saw him take in the situation quickly, but with an incomplete understanding. "Severus." The other man made eye contact with him, and Remus tried to make his expression say what he could not put voice to. When Severus looked away from him and to Ophelia, he knew that the other man now understood what was happening.

Ophelia was trying to reach towards him with her left hand, and it was that action that spurred him into action. He went to the other side of the bed and lowered himself onto it slowly. With a care that Remus was certain very few people had ever seen him display, Severus enfolded her uninjured hand in his. He opened his mouth to speak, but choked on his voice. As she had with Remus, she said it for him. "I broke my Vow, Severus."

His dark eyes met hers and his expression was of grim denial. "I could heal you."

"You can't heal someone from this."

"I can try. If I could just-"

"No, Severus. You can't."

Severus shook his head. He let his gaze drift to her right hand, his mind clearly trying to solve how to heal her. "I know I can help you."

Ophelia laughed, but it came out as a sob. "But not in any way that would keep me alive. You know that and I know that." Remus saw Severus begin to do something that he hadn't seen in years. Severus's eyes began to fill with tears. "You know the only thing you can do."

Severus lowered his head, his long hair trying to shield his tears from them. "I won't do this."

"I won't suffer that way."

Severus shook his head. "But I'll be killing you."

Ophelia did not take her eyes from her friend. "I'm already dead."

It was then that his barriers broke. Severus finally released a whispered sob.

Remus knew he should leave, but he did not want to draw attention to himself in this moment. This was a moment that was incredibly personal between his two friends, but if he made noise now...if he moved now, he knew things that needed to be said would never be said. Stealing himself to be strong, to not break, Remus froze in his chair.

"I'm so sorry, Severus," Ophelia continued. "I never meant to let you or Tevin down like-"

"Don't!" Severus snapped. "Don't apologize." He sobbed quietly again. "I should never have asked you to do this. I should never have contacted-"

"No, Severus. I made this choice. The Unbreakable Vow was my choice." Ophelia raised her hand from the Dittany solution and cupped her bloody hand to her friend's cheek. "Don't you dare feel like what's happening to me is your fault." The blood from her hand was running down her arm, but no one seemed to notice it. "You carry so much guilt, Severus. Let it go."

Silence reigned between the three of them for a long time. Remus refused to move or speak, but he watched Ophelia studying Severus as the other man regained a small amount of emotional control. That silence was broken when Severus reached his hand back toward the open doorway and whispered, "Accio Basilisk Venom." In seconds, a tiny vial settled into his waiting hand. He unstopped it, and then turned to look at her again.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I couldn't save Lily, and now I can't-"

"Oh, Severus," she breathed, allowing her own tears to fall. But where her earlier tears were from pain, these were from something else. "You did save me. All those years ago, remember? If you weren't at that meeting, if you didn't recognize me...You did save me. And you saved Lily, too...when you pushed her away, and when you saved her son, when you took him home. You saved him." She tried to smile at him. "I cheated death once. I can't do it twice. And I made this choice."

Severus reached his hand to the back of her neck. He had listened to her; it was clear by his expression. But now he was trying to be the healer, the potions master. "Lean your head back onto my hand." He brought the Basilisk Venom toward her.

Before he could coax her to drink, she latched onto his wrist to prevent it. "Arabella is dead. Dumbledore cannot know that. He told her to watch over Harry Potter when he's found, remember?"

Severus nodded. "I remember."

"He must think she lives."

Severus was looking at her gravely. "He will." Ophelia nodded to him and parted her lips. Severus slowly poured the contents of the vial, the Basilisk Venom, into her mouth. She closed her eyes as she swallowed, as though she were relishing the flavour of a delicacy rather than a poison.

Finally, she opened her eyes. "Thank you."

Severus was near tears again. "Ophelia..."

Her eyes began to fall shut again. But her smile grew. Remus watched her until he could no longer hear her breathing. When he brought his attention away from her peaceful expression, he saw that her body had grown still. The venom had done its work.

The two men were still and silent for a long while. Remus was fine for a length of time until he felt like the magnitude of what had just happened was suffocating him. He stood from the chair as slowly as possible, trying not to distract Severus or jar him from his contemplative state. He had only just stepped past the doorway when Severus called his name, halting him midstride. When he turned, he saw that Severus was looking at him, but he had not moved from Ophelia's side.

"Arabella's dead? It's true?"

Remus nodded. "Yes. I saw her."

Severus's eyes went away from Remus and stared at the floorboards in thought. "And if Dumbledore cannot know that, then that leaves one question."

"Who will take her place?"

Severus nodded. "Yes."

Neither man moved. "You mean Polyjuice Potion. Someone has to be disguised as Arabella so that Dumbledore will not know of her death."

"Yes."

Remus sighed heavily. He looked hard at Severus. Decision made, Remus straightened tall and spoke with as much conviction as he could. "I can do it."

Severus jerked his head up to look at Remus in surprise. "You can't. You didn't interact with her, know her mannerisms."

"But you did, at least a little, correct?" When Severus nodded once he continued. "Give me memories of her so that I can study them, learn how she was."

"Remus-"

"We're the only ones who know about this. You can't do it. I can."

Severus shook his head. "Even if you could, what about when the full moon comes?"

Remus met the dark eyes of Severus's, the challenge clear. "You once improved the Wolfsbane Potion so that it completely prevented my change into a werewolf. And you made it so well that it did not interfere with a certain Polyjuice Potion that I drank before your second wedding to Lily." He saw the spark of recognition in his friend's eyes. "Make it again, and again, until I don't have to keep that pretense up."

Severus stared at Remus for a terribly long time. "Remus, that version of the Wolfsbane takes two months to brew. And I can't afford those ingredients indefinitely."

Remus thought for a moment. "Arabella sold kneazles to the Emporium in Diagon Alley."

"Yes."

"What if those sales cover the difference between the two versions of the potion?"

Remus saw Severus thinking, calculating in his head. He realized that Severus was likely aware of the approximate income that Arabella made off of her kneazles. After a while, he nodded. "It might. You'll have to learn how to breed them and raise them."

Severus retreated into himself again, clearly thinking the process out of what exactly they were discussing. Remus knew this would be a Herculean task. Finally, Severus spoke again, still from his place at her side. "Very well."

"So," Remus said, for the first time feeling uneasy with Severus's sudden acceptance of his idea. "What happens now?"

"Well, first we must harvest everything we can from Arabella's body. Everything. Contrary to popular belief you don't have to use hair. It can be anything. It calls for 'extract of The Transfigured-Being-to-Be,' though hair is typically used, as it's easiest to obtain." Remus did not know this. He always thought it was hair and only hair that would suffice. "I'll separate it into doses for you. After that is done, I'll extract the memories I have of Arabella so that you can learn how she was."

Severus suddenly stopped speaking and pinned Remus with his gaze. "Remus, are you absolutely sure about this?"

Remus looked at the unguarded and uncertain expression Severus wore. He knew that he did not doubt his intention, but he was wondering if he truly understood the scope of what he'd suggested. But Remus was not about to back down now. "Yes, Severus, I am."

"This could last decades."

Remus took a deep breath. He had thought of this, and whatever came he would have to resign himself to it. "Then it will last decades." Decision made, and having no other assurances to give Severus, Remus walked away from Ophelia's deathbed and resolved to wait for the other man near the fireplace. They had harvesting to do.