Draco watched as the adults just sat there. Each second they sat there his anger came closer to boiling over.

"We can't just sit here!" Draco finally exclaimed.

"You can't go back to that school," Severus countered. "It's not safe for you."

"I know that," Draco sneered. "I can take care of myself. I'll be fine. I'm worried about Harry and you should be too! Why did you leave him?" Severus stood up and faced the teen. Draco was almost as tall as Severus. He could see the conviction and hurt in the teen's eyes.

"You are my main priority."

"No, Harry should be. I told you how I felt. I don't need to be here. Harry does. He's the one that has to win this war, not me." Severus gripped Draco's collar and shook him slightly. Draco's eyes got wide, but he trusted Severus and didn't break away.

"I will not allow you to give up." Severus' face was stern. "I have made an Unbreakable Vow to protect you, you know." Draco looked at his teacher and mentor, the one who had stood by him more than anyone else he'd ever known. He blinked, and a look of confusion came over his features.

"Wait, what? Why?" Draco asked. Severus scrutinized Draco for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision.

"Your mother came to me and begged me to take the Vow to protect you when you should fail the Dark Lord in your mission," he finally explained. "Now do you understand why you're my top priority? If you die, I die, and if I die, I can't save Potter."

"I - I didn't know that," Draco stammered. "I wouldn't have tried - I mean…" Draco glanced at Minerva, and lowered his eyes. "I didn't intend to put you in danger," he finally whispered.

"All the more reason why suicide was definitely not a good idea," Severus drawled.

"What?" Minerva gasped, glancing between the two. Severus raised a hand to cut her off and ignored her. It was between him and Draco.

"My mother asked you to make the Vow?" Draco questioned.

"Not only asked; she begged," Severus confirmed. "Your mother is a proud woman. She felt I was the best way of protecting you."

"But she doesn't love me!" Draco argued, confused.

"She does, in her own way," Severus contradicted. "Perhaps not the best way. She should have intervened between you and Lucius a long time ago, I agree, but she still does care for you deeply."

"I never knew…"

"Of course you didn't," Severus dismissed. "I never told you, because I thought you would be better off not realizing that my life was on the line for your sake. It wouldn't have helped you sleep at night. Now do you see why you are my first priority?"

"Yes," Draco admitted. "But we need to find Harry now!"

"Why are you so loyal to Potter?" Severus asked curiously, releasing Draco's collar.

"Because he listened to me when no one else would. Because if it wasn't for him, I'd be dead right now, and in extension, so would you," Draco muttered.

"True," Severus agreed reluctantly, as if such a thought made him uncomfortable. He sighed. "I suppose I should be grateful to him for inadvertently saving both our lives. You, Mr. Malfoy, are hereby ordered to not give up on your life or throw it away. Is that clear?"

"You don't want me to give up?" Draco deadpanned. "Then find Harry."

"Alright, alright," Severus agreed. "Do you have a suggestion of where to start looking for him?"

"Well how about Malfoy manor?" Draco suggested caustically. "It would make sense they brought him there." Then he added quietly, "There's enough dungeons and torturing equipment in the manor to keep them entertained with Harry for a long time."

"It won't due to rush in with a half-baked plan," Severus continued. "Putting ourselves in mortal danger with little hope of success is hardly a good strategy. I think it's time we bring you mother in on this."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked skeptically.

"It's simple enough," Severus promised. "I will explain to her that you've disappeared somewhere and perhaps she'll let some information about Potter slip. Accidentally, of course."

"You mean you're going to slip her something," Draco accused.

"Well, perhaps," Severus agreed. "You're her weak spot, and that will lure her into speaking with me, even if I am on the outs with the other Death Eaters, and then I can get any information she has from her. A simple memory charm will make her forget I ever did anything to her."

"Are you sure that's ethical?" Draco pressed. "I mean, it sounds rather underhanded - "

"Of course it's underhanded," Severus agreed. "The ethics are more than questionable. Don't go slipping anyone anything. You can be better than I am, and you will be better than I am. You wanted me to save Potter, didn't you?"

"Yes," Draco said.

"Then let me do it in the way that seems best."

Minerva walked over to Severus, who was standing by the fireplace. About a half-hour had passed since Severus sent a private owl to Narcissa. The Head of Gryffindor looked back at Draco, who was asleep on her couch, then cast a silencing charm over herself and Severus.

"Are you sure about this, Severus?" Severus turned and looked back at Draco then looked at his colleague.

"I will do whatever it takes to take care of Draco." His features were set and his lips formed a hard line.

"But what about Harry?"

"What about him?" Severus countered. "My feelings for Potter have not changed." Minerva shook her head in disapproval. "What?" Severus turned and truly faced Minerva. "What are you going to tell me now? Are you going to give me a lecture like I'm a three year old?" Minerva sighed a shook her head sadly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"After everything you and those boys have been through, you still hate that child?" Minerva admonished.

Turning away from Minerva, he said, "You would not understand."

"What wouldn't I understand?" Minerva asked, grabbing Severus by his elbow and turning him so that he was facing her again. He didn't look like he appreciated that as he wrenched himself from her grasp. "That you hold a grudge longer than anyone I've ever known? I understand that James was awful towards you, but Harry is NOT JAMES. And after you stood up for the child in the Headmaster's office, I would have thought that things would have changed between the two of you. I understand why you didn't rescue Harry first. I understand that. But you cannot tell me that your hate for the child is still there."

"I told you to take the boy away when I nearly hit him," Severus sneered. "If you had done that, I wouldn't be going through this."

"And I told you that he - both of them - needed you," she countered.

"Hence the reason I am putting my safety on the line to get the boy. What more do you want from me?" Minerva was glad that she put a silencing charm up around them as Severus would have truly woke up Draco.

"I want you to stop lying to yourself that you hate the boy and that you are just as worried about what they are doing to him as I am. As Draco is. If this scheme is going to work, this imaginary hatred that you have for Harry has to be in check. Because I will not let you give up, Severus Snape."

"Oh, please, woman," Severus sighed, "just because I've agreed to look after the boy, just because I've agreed to provide him with the stable adult figure he sorely needs, doesn't mean that I care for him at all. It means I don't want little miscreants growing up to mess up the world in the next generation. I'm doing the human race a favor, not Potter. I also do happen to be fond of Draco, and he's gotten the fool notion into his head that I have to look after his new 'friend' as well. Yes, I still hate Potter. No, I'm not lying to myself."

"If you weren't, lying I mean," Minerva began, "you would never have agreed to look after him. Can you imagine yourself in second year, or even earlier this year, agreeing to such a scheme?" Severus thought a moment.

"Perhaps not," he assented reluctantly.

"Because something has changed between you two," Minerva continued, "and you're too blind to see it. Harry might not like you any better than before, but he trusts you to not fail him like the other adults have. And you might not like Harry any better than before, but you know that someone has to help him, and you're willing, because you don't almost die with someone and not form something of a bond."

"Like Lucius Malfoy?" Snape snorted.

"Lucius Malfoy fought against you," Minerva continued, eyes narrowing. "He didn't look to you for guidance or beg you to kill him." Severus nodded once, but kept his lips tightly closed.

"Perhaps I don't hate him as much as I used to," Severus admitted quietly. "It doesn't mean I like him or care about him, though."

"Oh no," Minerva said, looking at Severus. "You don't care for him. No, not one bit. I mean, to come up with this scheme that could risk everything you hold dear to rescue him has nothing to do with liking him or caring about him." Severus narrowed his eyes. "Severus Snape, why are you acting like this?" Minerva really wanted to know why he was acting the way he was. This was not the same man who regaled them of what happened in the Shack, who stood up for Harry and defended him, and who at one point felt the he would have killed Alastor Moody during that meeting. Something was eating away at her colleague and if this rescue attempt was going to work, he had to have his wits about him and not have old grudges muddle his thinking. With time not on their side, subtlety was not the answer.

"Because the boy is an enigma!" Severus hissed back at her. He motioned her away from Draco's sleeping form. They stepped into an adjoining room. "It's one thing to make an ally in a stressful situation; it's another to keep that ally."

"There's more to this than Slytherin semantics," Minerva observed casually. "Severus, I've killed for Harry. Don't you think I deserve to know?"

"That's low, Minerva," Severus chuckled darkly. "Using that against me."

"But it's true," Minerva replied. "We're all in this together, aren't we? I need to know." They were both silent for a few moments, and Severus leaned against the wall, deep in contemplation as he frowned at the floor. He crossed his arms sullenly.

"He should have been mine," Severus finally whispered.