It was only a moment before Severus felt something poking him in the small of his back. He swiftly reached behind him and grabbed the thing which was currently being prodded at him.

"Oh, no you's don't," a high, distinctly female, voice declared, as she wrenched the object from Severus' grasp and swatted him smartly across the behind. Severus whirled and drew his wand, only to be met with the sight of a well dressed house elf.

"What the hell?" he sputtered. The house elf continued to assault him with what turned out to be a spruce branch. He raised his arms to protect his face from the smacking. "Stop this at once!"

"No - Death - Eaters - allowed - in - Mistress' - home," the house elf grunted between strikes.

"We're friends!" Severus pleaded. Draco stood by, watching, a half amused smile playing on his features.

"Likely story," the elf snorted, continuing her attack.

"Alright, fine!" Severus shouted. "I don't want to hurt you." He raised his wand, intending to cast a body bind on the rabid elf.

"You puts that down!" she screamed and burst of gold knocked Severus to the floor, and the wand out of his hand, and Draco beside him. "Not so powerful now, is you's, Death Eaters?" she snarled. "Just wait till Mistress comes home!"

"Yes, please, do be so kind as to find her, if you would," Severus drawled dully, finding that he couldn't move. Carrying both their wands, the elf popped away.

"I say," Draco commented, "are all the house elves insane?"

Minerva flooed into her home. With the wave of her wand, which was at the ready for a duel if necessary, she turned on the lights. From the description Spunky gave her, she suspected who it might be, but she could never be too careful. To say that seeing Draco and Severus in her home was a relief was an understatement. They had been missing for almost a whole day. Once her heart stopped racing, she began to worry because she only saw Draco and Severus. When Minerva saw Severus on the floor, she quickly released him.

Where was Harry? she thought.

"Spunky, what have you done?" Minerva said, walking over towards Severus as he got up.

"I's protecting Mistress' house from Death Eaters," Spunky answered proudly.

"True, but you know about Severus," Minerva admonished. The proud look that was on Spunky's face quickly changed. "Go get us some tea, please." Minerva dismissed. "Severus," she said, "where have you been?"

"Hiding," he answered. "Where's Potter?" Minerva walked over towards a seat.

"I thought he was with you."

"I had to get to my chambers quickly before they got to Draco. We barely made it out before they got there."

"Severus, Harry's missing. Miss Granger informed me this afternoon that Harry went down to your chambers after the Death Eaters came into the Great Hall." Severus let out a loud his of irritation, but otherwise didn't react.

"And of course the Death Eaters were there waiting for him," he concluded after a moment. "He wasn't there when I went for Draco." A shadow passed over Minerva's face. Severus looked thoughtful. Neither spoke.

"Well?" Draco prompted after a moment. "Aren't you going to do something?"

Narcissa eyed Harry warily.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" she asked.

"Why would I lie to you?" Harry replied. "I know what I saw." Narcissa nodded once, but kept any emotions to herself.

"How are you feeling?" she asked instead. Harry looked at Narcissa incredulously.

"Why do you care?"

"It's just a question," Narcissa responded.

"No," Harry said, shaking his head. "What is it you want? Why are you treating me like this?"

"What?" Narcissa said, looking abashed. "Can I not care for you?"

"The same way you care for Draco? No, thank you." Narcissa sighed dramatically as she let her shoulders slump and she rolled her eyes to the heavens.

"Have I not made myself plain?" she snapped suddenly. "I am charged with your care. I have a vested interest in your well-being for as long as I am ordered to look after you. Additionally, if I had interfered on Draco's behalf, Lucius would have made it worse on both of us. Obviously, you possess no sense of subtlety. It's a good thing you weren't involved with that to make things worse for Draco, don't you think?"

"Well, that kind of care I can do without," Harry snarled. "If you really cared for Draco, then why didn't you tell him? He's grown up thinking that he had no one in his corner. His dad didn't love him and you didn't care. If you really was trying to protect Draco, you would at least have told him something. Anything. Just to let him know that he had someone in his corner."

Harry felt a ping of jealousy because he knew that Draco really did have someone in his corner that cared about his well being more than anything. It hurt that he didn't have the same thing. Yeah, Professor Snape said that he would look out for his best interests, but Harry wasn't blind. He saw that once the Great Hall was compromised, his Professor didn't try to come get him. No, he left out of the Great Hall to head towards Draco.

He so wanted to believe Professor Snape, but because of his current predicament, he was truly beginning to wonder.

"What good would telling him have done?" Narcissa challenged, more calmly this time. "Let him know that I saw what was happening? I hoped he thought me ignorant. Telling him would simply have drawn his attention to my powerlessness in the situation. As far as you are concerned, I'm given charge of you. Whether I actually care or not is beside the point. Unforgivables are an extremely effective motivator. Now, if you will please stop analyzing my life choices, that would be extremely appreciated! We don't have to be friends and we don't have to like each other. We're enemies, and I'm perfectly content with that. What the Dark Lord intends to do with you is beyond me, but it's not my responsibility."

"Indeed, it is not," a new voice chimed in.

"My Lord," Narcissa gasped, with a deep bow.

"Leave us, now," Voldemort said. Narcissa gave a slight bow and walked out of the room. Harry instantly wished that he weren't alone with the crazed wizard. More and more, he was wishing his Professor were there, even if he still harbored doubts about whether Snape really cared. Harry quickly scrambled off his cot and backed himself into the nearby corner, trying to keep himself from trembling. He sank to the floor in a pathetic attempt to hide his blatant terror.

"How are you feeling, Harry Potter?" Though his voice sounded soothing, there was nothing that could soothe the boy still sitting on the floor with his arms wrapped around his knees.

"Stay away from me," Harry blurted out, trying to make himself smaller against the wall.

"Harry, everything will be alright," Voldemort said softly, crouching in front of him. Harry watched warily. There was no where to move, even if he wanted to, but he felt frozen, like a deer in the headlights.

"Please don't hurt me," Harry sobbed, forgetting any shreds of dignity he might still have. He didn't believe Voldemort would listen, but he couldn't not plead anyway. "Please don't hurt me." Harry laid he forehead on his knees.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Voldemort continued. He laid a hand on Harry's scalp. Harry stiffened, but didn't react any other way. "I'm here to offer you an escape." Harry's head snapped up at that, and Voldemort took his hand away. Harry glared at the man.

"What are you talking about?" Harry demanded.

"I don't believe Dumbledore has been treating you very well, has he?" Voldemort prompted knowingly. "How about your relatives?" Harry didn't respond, which, if Voldemort hadn't already seen proof in Harry's memories earlier that day, would have been admission enough itself. "I propose that you try the most unlikely place to seek refuge - with me and my followers."

"Are you entirely insane?" Harry sighed calmly, almost laughing. "You tortured me in the graveyard; you killed my parents! Bellatrix killed Sirius! And now you want me to just run to you with open arms? None of this would be happening at all if it wasn't for you!"

"Mm, perhaps," Voldemort agreed. "Let's take those one at a time. The graveyard - an unfortunate incident brought on by my hasty ignorance. I believe offering you a safe haven would sufficiently make up for that. It's certainly better to trust a person who has only cast an unforgivable on you once than someone who has done it countless times, is it not?"

"Twice," Harry reminded him, feeling a giddy rush of pleasure at being able to argue with Voldemort. He pointed to his scar. "Twice."

"Alright, twice," Voldemort sighed. "I'll get to that one next. I know you know the Prophecy, Harry. Whether you agree with my methods or my goals is beside the point. It was the natural thing for me to do to deal with the potential of a rival, as I'm sure you understand even at a lesser level. You have been known to enjoy the humiliation of certain ex-rivals as well." Harry opened his mouth to object and then closed it again, knowing it was futile to argue. "Your father and mother stood in my way. I'm sure you realize I have no injuction against killing someone in my way. I offered your mother her life as well. Severus begged that of me and I tried."

"What?" Harry gasped. "He did what?"

"Severus asked me to spare your mother," Voldemort explained curiously. "You didn't know?"

"What - why?" Harry stammered. Voldemort scoffed.

"He loved her, or so he claimed. He begged me to spare her as soon as he realized that his delivering the Prophecy to me put her in danger."

"He - he only begged for her life?" Harry questioned.

"Only hers," Voldemort confirmed.

"Why not mine?" he asked quietly.

"It would have been worse than useless for him to ask that," Voldemort dismissed. "You were the whole point." Harry nodded.

"I can't believe it," Harry muttered to himself. "Snape loved my mum."

"Yes, well, that's all in the past now," Voldemort continued.

"Why not kill me now?" Harry challenged. "Get it over with and do it right? I'm not exactly going to fight you, you know."

"Which is part of why I don't want to kill you," Voldemort pointed out.

"So you just want do be difficult, is that it?" Harry seethed.

"Not exactly. Anyway, if you will let me continue, I do believe you have a part of me in you, Harry." Harry blinked stupidly at Voldemort.

"What?" he said monotonously.

"A piece of my soul is lodged in yours," Voldemort explained casually. "If I kill you, I kill that part of myself. Therefore, since I don't want to kill part of myself - that would be extremely foolish of me - I will not kill you, nor will I let anyone else kill you. You're mine, and I will keep you safe. Bella is a trifle insane, even by my standards, but what she did in the Department of Mysteries was a casualty of war. I regret that that is a stumbling block for you to see your way clear to agreeing to stay in a safer place than your current accommodations." Harry made a face at him. "Did Dumbledore ever ask your permission to do anything with you?" Voldemort prompted.

"No," Harry responded quietly.

"Then haven't I already proved myself more respectful of you than he is? I have not presumed your acceptance of my offer, nor have I assumed your refusal. I will not force you into either one, though I will keep you as safe as I can one way or another. It doesn't do well for me for my horcruxes to be unhappy." He reached out and brushed his fingers against Harry's cheek. "Think about it a bit. We'll talk some more tomorrow."