The meeting had ended thirty-five minutes earlier, the last person was finally gone and the Floo closed.

Severus turned around and smiled at his wife. She was sitting in the corner talking to Narcissa and Bellatrix.

“Love, I am going to go find Harry and send him off to bed. I know that he hasn’t gone willingly and it is nearly midnight.” Severus told her. Rosemerta smiled back at him and nodded.

Despite the smiles both were passing between one another, the meeting they had just gone through had been a difficult one. People were turning up missing left and right, some as victims of murder and others simply disappearing without a trace. Thankfully, they were able to keep most of this hidden from the children since the Daily Prophet was no longer being published. They needed to keep them safe. If that meant keeping them from knowing what was going on outside of the manor, then so be it.

Severus walked towards Draco’s room. The door was open, but there was no one there. Severus turned and walked towards Hermione’s room, which was close to Lucius and Narcissa’s room.

The door was also empty, and, strangely, the room was actually quite messy. That was unlike Hermione.

Severus walked towards the other end of the manor.

Halfway there, however, he met his wife.

Rosemerta had tears rolling down her cheeks. It sent anger rushing through him. No one was allowed to make his wife, his love, cry. He hated when she cried, and it was all the worse that she cried so rarely.

“Rosie, what is wrong?” Severus asked, opening his arms so that she could settle in between them. It always amazed him just how well she fit.

“Look, Sevy!” Rose cried. She handed him a piece of parchment. Eight words.

Mum, Dad, Sorry. I had too. Love, Harry.

Eight words that sent fury through Severus Snape’s very being.

“Where did you find this?”

“I went to see if he was in his room, Sevy! It was on his door. Sevy, why would he do that? Why would he choose this moment to disobey us again?” Rose cried. Severus held her tighter. He held her tight, but at the same time knew that now was the time. Now was the time when they had to

ready themselves.

For the battle had already begun.

“Love, we have to get ready.”Severus whispered to her as he loosened his hold. Rosemerta nodded against his chest and then brought her hands up to wipe her tears away.

Less than a minute later, she was transformed. Severus watched her. In her eyes was hurt…hurt especially evident through years of oneness between them. Her eyes, so brilliantly golden, so unlike anyone else’s eyes he had ever seen, had the shine of a warrior. Or of a snake ready to fight for her clutch. Rosemerta Snape was ready for battle.

And Merlin help their son when she finally got a hold of him. Merlin help the boy when Severus got a hold of him.

“Come, we have to alert the others.”

Together, the couple walked down the steps towards Narcissa, Lucius, and Bellatrix.

They walked down the steps, hand in hand, perhaps, for the last time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Everyone knew what they had to do. Severus had thought that Narcissa was going to attempt to summon their children to her the moment she was told that they had gone to Hogwarts. Severus had watched as Bellatrix tried not to shed a tear at the thought of her daughter and nephews making the first steps towards a dangerous battle.

When they had walked outside to send patronus’ to those on their side everyone noticed, nearly at the same time, that tonight was the night of the full moon.

He had held Rosemerta’s hand and kissed her lightly on the cheek before he and Lucius began their own trek to Hogwarts. They would go to The Three Broomsticks and meet with others on their side.

“Be safe, love. We will be together soon.” Severus said, kissing his wife once more. She merely nodded.

She nearly broke when she watched as he and Lucius apparated away. She breathed deeply, trying to get a hold of her emotions. She could not choose now to break down. She might allow herself to break down after the battle.

“We have to go to the Weasley’s. They are being watched closely since Arthur’s accident in the ministry, so we cannot send a Patronus to them.” Rose said, turning to face Narcissa and Bellatrix.

Bellatrix shook her head. No. She had something else that she had to do first. It was probably going to be her only chance, and there was a young child who deserved this one thing, this one

thing that only she would be able to accomplish.

“You two go ahead. I have something that I must correct first. I will be there soon. I will fight beside my…Hermione.”

Narcissa watched her older sister. She watched the hurt in her eyes.

She walked over to Trixie and wrapped her arms around her neck, and whispered into her ear, “She was born from you. She is a gift. She will always be your child, Sister, it is just that she is mine too…and we were always good at sharing, I see no reason we should not be now.”

Bellatrix stifled a sob, and nodded.

“Thank you little sister. I love you. Now go. Make sure our children are not doing anything stupid.”

All three women laughed nervously, though no one said what they were all thinking: ‘Their children had already done the stupidest thing they had the ability to do.’

Suddenly, without another word, Bellatrix vanished with a pop.

“Are you ready for this, Cissy?”

There was a low sigh.

“As ready as one can ever be to fight a battle and then throttle one’s children.”

Rose tried not to laugh as she grabbed Cissy’s hand and apparated the two of them away.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The halls were quiet and stark white.

As she walked down the hallways she was amazed at how clean everything smelled. After years in Azkaban, everything smelled clean to her, but nothing smelled nearly as crisp and clean as the halls of St. Mungos.

Bellatrix was under a Notice-Me-Not spell. She could not take the chance of being seen before she got to the fifth floor…where Alice and Frank were under a spell.

She had been researching the dark spell since she had gotten home. It was a spell so dark that not many knew of it, as it was a forgotten spell by most. While she did not remember much of that night, she did know that Dumbledore did something to her friends.

She had finally found it a mere day before. Conturbare animam animo capere.

And, she had found the countercurse. Ad liberare anima et liberare in animo.

She had to free them from their childlike state. Not for herself, though for some reason she constantly blamed herself for not being able to save them, but for Neville, who had never known his parents. She knew that Hermione’s childhood had started out roughly because of the muggles that she had been illegally given too, but Neville had also been affected by the loss of his parents. Thankfully, he had his Grandmother, who had apparently been close by when everything had happened.

Finally, Bellatrix stood in front of the door. Behind her, she could hear the healers yelling to get ready, to prepare because the battle they had been expecting had began.

In one part of her mind, she wondered whose side they were on, or if they even cared who came in because they were healers and had taken an oath to heal all they could.

But, in the forefront of her mind was only one thing: Save Alice and Frank.

She knew her friends would have done the same thing for her.

~*~*~*~*~

Cissy and Rose apparated directly into the Weasley’s sitting room. Cissy had never been there, so Rose had needed to side-along apparate them both.

Molly looked up, shocked at their sudden appearance. It meant that it was time.

“Oh, no.” Molly said quietly.

Rose looked almost ashamed.

“I am sorry, Molly.” Rose whispered.

“Now, now. It isn’t your fault. We have been expecting this for some time. It’s at Hogwarts, then?”

Cissy was the one to nod this time.

“Then let me get the boys.” Molly said, turning.

“We are already ready, Mum.” Charlie said. Behind him were the twins and Bill with Fleur by his side. Arthur walked through his sons and towards his wife.

“We have to leave. Now.” Arthur said, “Our children are already fighting. We have to be there to fight beside them, before them if possible.”

Rosemerta looked at everyone around her. Arthur was right. They had to save their children.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Severus and Lucius landed in the Forbidden Forest. They had first tried to go to The Three Broomsticks, but there were too many people in Hogsmeade. People they knew that were on the side of Dumbledore. Since they wanted to remain undetected until they were inside Hogwarts, they were forced to use the tunnel Severus had used not long ago to talk to Ronald Weasley.

“Severus! Look!” Lucius hissed. There, on the ground, were two bags. One Severus knew was Harry’s, the other he suspected was Hermione’s from its girlish pattern. There were numerous large footprints of werewolves near the bags.

“When this is over, I am going to throttle my son. He better be okay.” Severus said.

“As will I. Both Hermione and Draco.” Lucius said. Normally, he couldn’t bring himself to punish his princess, and Draco was so rarely in trouble it was not a problem.

This time, however, was different. Not even Hermione would be able to talk herself out of this. If anything happened to anyone in his family, Lucius did not know what he would do.

Severus summoned the bags to him, though stilled when he heard a howl. Obviously the wolves were still in the area.

He walked over to tree and touched the correct mushroom caps, and watched the hidden door open.

“Severus. Don’t move.”

Lucius’ voice was frosty. It held a hint of fear.

The thick, hot breath that Severus felt flow down his neck made him shiver. His body was frozen. He looked, as slowly as he could, to his right.

A werewolf. Staring at him intently.

“Lucius, do nothing. Did you take your wolfsbane?” Severus asked, though didn’t dare move anything other than his mouth.

The werewolf nodded.

Severus breathed a sigh of relief.

“Are the children okay?”

Again, the werewolf nodded.

“Are you willing to fight, to save those children?” Severus asked. He knew how much the werewolf, how much Lupin, detested fighting and risking hurting anyone in his werewolf form.

Some things, however, could not be helped.

The werewolf nodded again.

“Do you wish to come through the tunnel with us? Or do you wish to fetch other werewolves?”

Lupin took a step towards the tunnel. Obviously, there were no other werewolves on their side, or who retained enough of their minds not to attack all humans. Severus nodded, and then motioned for Lupin and Lucius to enter the tunnel.

They were almost there.

~*~*~*~*~*~

When Rosemerta and Narcissa apparated with the Weasleys, they landed at the front gates of Hogwarts. They were shocked at what they saw.

Spiders. Giants. Inferi. All fighting against students and adults. They had known for years that some people were on their side, others they had not known at all. At the highest tower, they could see him. They could see Dumbledore watching the battle below him.

Though no one said anything they all wondered who, if anyone besides the spiders, giants, and inferi, were fighting for the sociopath. As it looked, there was no one who was not attempting to fight the monsters off.

“Bloody hell. What have we gotten ourselves into?” one of the Weasley children said. Rose thought it was Charlie.

“Rose. Look again at the tower.” Cissy said, her voice thick with emotion.

For there, on the tower where Dumbledore stood on the balcony outside of his office, were two people.

Dumbledore. Harry. Though Rose nor Cissy could see well as it was not close and it was dark besides the full moon, she could see a shock of black hair. That meant that Draco and Hermione were up there too.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus, followed by Lucius and Lupin, stepped out of the tunnel. They were met by Longbottom. The boy had grown since he had seen him last, and seemed to be trying to hide just how scared he was. The boy really was a true Gryffindor.

“Good, Professor you are finally here! Harry said that you would come this way.”

“Where is he?”

Neville looked away for a moment.

“He is going to fight Dumbledore. He said to tell you that he must, he has no choice. He also said that he loves you…but that you can’t follow him.”

Severus swallowed back the snarky remark he wanted to voice.

He turned to Lucius and Lupin.

“Lupin, Lucius, to the front hall. We have to try to protect everyone.”

Together, the two men, werewolf, and a boy who was soon to prove that he was a man, ran towards the front hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Trixie? Is it really you?”

Bellatrix felt the hands on her face through her tears as she nodded.

“How long were we under the spell?”

“Nearly sixteen years.” Bellatrix whispered.

She felt hands and arms embrace her, both from Alice and Frank, though Frank had said nothing.

“I hate to cut this short, because I want nothing more than to catch you both up on everything, but there is a battle, supposedly the last battle, being fought at Hogwarts right now. Being fought by our children.”

Alice and Frank both gasped.

“Trixie, we haven’t a wand.” Alice said quietly.

At this, Trixie raised an eyebrow at Alice.

“Dear Alice, do you honestly think I did not think this through? Here.” Bellatrix said, handing both Alice and Frank the two wands she had asked Madam Longbottom for. The woman had been hesitant, but had handed them over all the same at the meeting earlier that night.

“Let’s go.” Bellatrix said, waving her wand in a complex way, changing the hospital pajamas of both Alice and Frank into clothing.

The same clothing that they had worn the last time she remembered seeing them.

It brought some comfort to all three.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“So, Dumbledore, the battle shall end tonight, shall it not?”