Princess

The time that followed was a whole new kind of torture - as Severus apparently strived to try them all. They spent the days and nights that blurred in one, barricaded in the tremedously ugly hole of a room, and with concern for his sanity Severus noted that his fear of a hostile intervention smoothly morphed in to a wishing for one. Anything would be better than this, this waiting for a fight or flight, this aimless dissexistence. Clearly, he was not one cut for hiding, especially if he did not knew what steps should he undertake, in order to put an end to the whole non sensual plight.

Over the course of last couple of days Severus talked himself in to - and subsequently out of - rushing in to action himself; perhaps he could reach out to Lucius, to sond out the current situation a bit, or visit his flat maybe, to see if any intrudesrs passed by during the time of his absence. Or simply go and track and kill Bellatrix, before she got the chance to outran him and do so first. That particular plan entertained Severus deeply, but alas, as rational as he was, he knew that the idea was comparibly bright to poking a hornet nest with ones tongue.

So he stayed put.

To embellish the debilitating idleness some more, Ide clearly decided that she had just about enough of this whatnot adventure and of being scooped away from the sun and fresh air with some suspect stranger, so she consistently demanded to be returned home to her mum and dad at no uncertain terms.

Obviously, she was not yet able to really grasp the reality that her parents were no longer, but she - to Severus' twisted satisfaction - finally seemed to make out the connection that it was him who took her away from them. The temper tantrums of desperate anger were for Severus somehow easier to digest than her earlier expressions of missplaced affection and trust. She now seemed to hate him, just as it should be given the circumstances, and it made him breath a little easier, even though it made their temporary coexistence more difficult still.

As another day loomed to an end Severus felt about ready to set the whole building on fire, rather than read the dreadful farm related book to his ungrateful audience even one more time. He had had enough. They both had. So, when evening grew closer, he came to a decision to finally venture out and gather some intelligence.

There was no point in going on like this any longer, really, yet still, his stomach churmed with fear, that he'd might unnecessarily swirl the suspiciously calm waters and consequently bring harm upon the girl. He detested this new-found responsibility with all his being for sure.

The night already fell when Severus finally managed to put Ide to sleep; he began with the good old unicorn poem, but to very little effect - the girl being restless, as though sensing that Severus was about to leave her. So he - regretably and reprehensibly too - growled "go to sleep, bloody hell" which indeed worked quite well. With his nerves fryed and the girls' mood being constantly on decline, it was not hard to figure out that she fell asleep lot quicker when she cried beforehand.

As Severus donned his cloak, he absently noted that it must be a Halloween eve, judging by the sight of all too many Jacks O'Lanterns visible outside, from the leady window. Ah, a night of the dead, indeed.

He cast one last uneasy glance towards the girl and made his leave. He hated leaving her alone, but the girl appeared to be a generaly good sleeper and he wasn't planing on staying away for long, moreover, his wards should allow the passage to him and him only. It wasn't as though there were much more options anyway. He did not wanted to enchant any other muggle to help them again. Firstly, Severus tried no to think much about the faith that possibly met the kind lady after they fled their last hideaway, but he wasn't stupid to draw the picture quite well, and secondly, from what he had gathered during their prolonged stay here, Severus was quite certain that this shabby, rundown place was inhabited by the kind of men, to whom he wouldn't dare to entrust Ides' care, even under the Imperio curse.

The first leg of his expedition provided itself to be quite uneventful. Severus apparated back to his house in Spinners' End, finding it empty, yet bearing signs of someone rummaging about some while ago. It was of no real nuisance to him. He took the opportunity to change in to clean clothes (finally!) and he also chugged down stimulating draught from cabinet with his personal stock. He was just about to disapparate, to pay a brief and clandestine visit to Lucius, when something truly horrible happened - his Dark Mark flared to life at last.

Severus let out a very well choosen expletive. Ah, this was not going according to his plan. Not at all, damn it. Thinking hard and fast he came to the obvious conclusion; there were only two ways of how to proceed now. He could go and answer his summons, and finally see for himself how the things were standing at the present moment, or he could go back and spend the rest of his life in forever hiding. Laid out as such, there was no real question. 

Indeed, he was aware of how dangerous, foolish even, it was to waltz right in to the Death Eaters meeting, taking into account how delicate was the state of affairs with Lestranges now, but still, he was quite certain that he did not befall in to Dark Lords' disfavor so far (if he did, he would be two feet under already.) No matter what Bellatrix knew - or thought she knew - she still did not have any tangible evidence that the dead body was a forgery, and that he was any implicated into the real girls' disappearance. She needed proof before exposing his treason. 

And should he not answer his summons tonight, oh, that would be a whole different issue. Because this all with Bella was still only a petty game - even though the winning price was a murder - but should the Dark Lord get any suspicion about Severus' allegiances... well, then he would not be around to see the light of a new day for sure.

And so, Severus took a deep breath, send a prayer with all his atheism and disapparated to where the Dark Mark took him.

Having his eyes closed to stave off the traveling vertigo, first sensations he could pinpoint were the cold, night breeze and the smell of heather and rotting foliage. Hm, so they were outside. He fastly opened his eyes, to take a proper stock of his surroundings. He and about a dozen of other Death Eaters were at a small clearing, apparently somewhere in the middle of a deciduous forest. That was nice. Especially as there were no wards usual for the most of wizarding residences, where their happy little meetings generally took place. At the same time as Severus, two other Death Eaters arrived to scene, which was also nice, as it prevented him from receiving any redundant attention.

He fastly scanned the assembled people. There were Lucius and Narcissa, Carrows, Rokwood, Mulciber and Rosier, the Lestrange brothers, but to his dread he could not see Bellatrix anywhere. The Dark Lord was yet to arrive.

A feeling of general excitement and anticipation seemed to buzz through the dark garbed group and Severus tried to look like he's vibing with everybody else. It was very important to stay alive now (even more so than usually, that is) as, should he die tonight, Ide would - if not tracked down - surely die of a horrible death by hunger, thanks to his glorious wards. Ah.

To pass some time and appear causal during the waiting for O Lord of darkness, Severus decided to go to chat up with Lucius - as was his original intention, before everything went once again straight in to shits - but almost imedilately, Rodolphus barred his way. An ugly sneer played on his shapeless lips. "The game is nearly over Severus. Bella is on the trail" He smiled hidenously.

Even though Rodolphus was considerably taller, Severus managed to look down his nose at him. "That's supposed to mean?" He asked ostensibly indifferent, while his insides filled with frost.

Rodolphus seemed to be rather enjoying himself. "We know the body you brought belonged to a different child. Bella took some blood from the Roberts' corpses, before it turned in to a pudding, and can now use it to locate their offspring"

Severus' blood ran cold at once, nearly turning in to a pudding too. Fuck. A blood tracking magic, how could he not think about something so simple and obvious. The cooling bodies of elder Roberts stayed laying in the cottage, all ready to disabuse.

Just for the pleasure it clearly brought him Rodolphus went on. "It was a tedious work, indeed, almost as if someone was shielding the girl constantly. But my Bella is an extraordinary witch" He added wistfuly and smirked. "You might have fooled our Lord, but not her"

"Why, are you implying that our Lord is a fool?" Severus asked coolly and was delighted to see that he stroked the nerve, for a distinct uneasiness flickered through the other mans' eyes. "While I don't know what are you talking about Rodolphus, I would advise you to be careful of what you are saying" 

With that Severus stepped away, clenching his fists and taking measured breaths, to not betray his violent trepidation. It was bad. With grim resolution he quietly stealthed his way to the very edge of their loose circle, as close to the line of trees as possible. His only chance was to get out of here before the Dark Lords' advent, and if that ment to put himself on to the psychpaths' list of undesirables, then so it be. He could not left Ide alone to Bellatrixs' twisted devises.

But at the very moment three dark figures appeared in the centre of the meadow and everybody - Severus included - went completly still. It was the Dark Lord and Avery, and in between them a short, stocky man with mousy coloured hair cowered. Severus got stricken by shock and cognition; it was the fourth Marauder, the toady, incompetent louse - Peter Pettigrew.