Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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On his way to class early one morning, Draco ducked into the boys' bathroom and splashed cold water against his heated face.
His life had begun to unravel in front of him.
Harriet would not speak to him, would not look at him, would not even acknowledge he existed at all.
Gryffindor had won a Quidditch match against Slytherin the week prior and although she had jeered with her teammates, she purposely left Draco out of her gaze.
He panted as he looked down and let the excess water drip off his sallow skin.
What had she learned?
What did she know?
He swallowed thickly and closed his eyes as he contemplated his fate.
It mattered little, he would never have a life with Harriet via love, arranged marriage, or any other path.
After Voldemort had assigned him such an insurmountable task, Draco knew that his life as well as his parents' had shortened dramatically.
He left the lavatory a moment later and walked to class with a heavy heart.
As he went, he focused on the pleasant song of birds singing in the breezeway and the fresh smell of early morning air.
Knowing he would soon be dead, those simple pleasures seemed like extravagant luxuries.
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Later that afternoon, while Severus's languid voice carried his class through their Potions lesson, Ron frowned at Harriet.
Hermione nervously glanced behind her friend before she looked down at her open notebook and pretended to jot down a few things worth remembering.
"He's looking at me again, isn't he?" Harriet snapped at Ron and Hermione.
"........That's about all he does now." Ron shrugged, "It's not with a sneer, though. He looks a bit......sad, I suppose. That expression on his face is bloody awful."
"Yeah, well, he's bloody awful." Harriet retorted.
"Do you think you should.....talk to him?" Hermione asked as she looked up from her notebook, "Ask what he wants?"
"Why do you care about Malfoy?!" Harriet snapped before she could stop herself.
Students at nearby tables looked over to see what had caused the sudden outburst.
Harriet frowned as her father threw her a scathing grimace.
"Five points from Gryffindor, Ms. Snape." Severus snapped, ".........For failing to wait until class's conclusion to discuss your private affairs."
The Gryffindors groaned as Harriet put her face in her hands.
At the front of the room, Lily frowned.
She glanced worriedly between her daughter and Draco as she wondered how they had ever become so hostile towards one another.
Had Harriet learned more than she and Severus realized?
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The awkwardness that occurred during Potions class that afternoon barely registered in Draco's mind.
During another rib-eye pause passed in the bathroom later that day, he wondered what Harriet had meant while he splashed water on his pale face again.
It was the only way he kept the anxiety-induced nausea at bay.
He stared down into the sink basin again as the last of the water dripped off his skin until a voice called out, "Leave me alone, Malfoy!"
Draco whirled around with a hateful sneer as he found himself face to face with.......
"What are you doing here Snape?!" He exclaimed. His eyes narrowed as he shouted, "You must be lost......This is a boys' lavatory!"
"I know exactly where I am, thanks." Harriet said as she withdrew her wand from her pocket and pointed it at him threateningly, "And I know exactly what you are.....You're just like them, all the others, aren't you? Leave me alone, Malfoy. No more staring, no more talking, I meant what I said before! Leave me alone!"
Draco scoffed as she narrowed her eyes, "You don't have to worry about me for too long, Snape. I'll be dead by the end of the school year."
It gave him courage to watch her harsh scowl soften as he spoke those terrible words.
"I trust that then you and your secret lover can get on with your lives, eh? Don't worry I won't weigh the two of you down." Draco nodded with a bitter smile.
"What are you talking about?!" Harriet demanded. She kept her wand pointed at him as she pressed, ".............Are you ill?"
"No." Draco smiled. He slyly covered up the true cause of his plight with a roundabout truth, "I'm just not as brazen as you."
Harriet lowered her wand slowly as she nodded and repeated, ".............Stay away from me, Malfoy. I won't hold back next time."
As Harriet turned and left the bathroom, Draco collapsed into a bitter pile of self-loathing.
He couldn't help but welcome the idea of death as he found himself outcast and rejected from his darling in the utmost way.
Draco had imagined it may have been Ron Weasley or Viktor Krum to steal his sweetheart away.
He smirked as he thought.
Not for a single moment had he anticipated losing his darling to some boy in a cave.
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During the hour before dinner, Lily sighed as she glanced at Severus while they cleaned the Potions classroom from the day's use.
"Did you see the two of them this afternoon?" Lily asked.
"It was rather impossible not to notice after Harriet's unnecessary display." Severus quipped.
".......Will you do it then, Sev?" She asked quietly.
"Do I really have a choice in the matter?" Severus whispered.
Lily looked up with a frown to meet Severus's black stare.
"..........My vow to you remains unchanged, my love." Severus nodded, "I will do what it takes, whatever it takes, to ensure the survival of our family. I have no believable reason to refuse Narcissa's request."
Lily's face wrinkled into a morose frown as she stepped forward and placed her hand upon Severus's cheek.
She whispered, "Dumbledore......"
".........Is already a dying man." Severus answered as he turned his face to press his lips against Lily's fingers.
"Then it's true?" Lily frowned.
Severus nodded as he closed his eyes for a brief moment until they opened to connect with Lily's gaze once more.
"Yes, my love............His latest hunt resulted only in bitter failure and incurable injury." Severus sighed.
"Well.....Surely something can be done!" Lily exclaimed as she took a step back, "Will you not help him, Severus?!"
"There is nothing I can do." He calmly replied with a remorseful frown, "Dumbledore originally made that assessment himself. I insisted on examining the wound, determined to prove him wrong, but it's worse than I feared and it's spreading fast."
Tears of sadness welled in Lily's emerald eyes as she nodded and bit her lip, "I suppose that buys us a bit more time at least? Living under our ruse?"
"Unfortunately, it does." Severus frowned.
"When will it happen?" She asked.
".......By the end of the term." Severus nodded.
She laughed mirthlessly as she wiped away her tears with a trembling hand.
Severus frowned.
Lily threw up her arms in a great shrug before she exclaimed, "Taking the vow won't change much, Sev!"
Severus furrowed his brow as he nodded silently.
".........What are we going to do without him?" Lily asked as she sucked in a breath, "How are we going to do without him?"
"Before...." Severus began as he took a step closer towards his wife, "Before what must happen will occur, Dumbledore has promised he will bequeath his memories to me."
Lily took Severus's hands into hers while he went on, "His strategies, his plans......They'll all be stored for revisitation in the Pensieve....I realize that's little consolation facing such a loss, certainly. However, it is.....better than nothing.....At least we may still have a chance."
"I thought Harriet was the plan." Lily frowned, "She's the Chosen One, is she not? She'll be the one to end the war."
"Provided the prophecy is to be believed," Severus nodded, "......That is correct. Dumbledore has spent these past years trying to determine how exactly those events may.....unfold."
"I think everyone has." Lily chuckled,
"Then how best to do it?" Severus asked.
Her feigned smile fell away as he elaborated, "How best to do it while controlling casualties and minimizing damage?"
"What's the answer to that, Sev?" Lily asked, "What do you believe is the wisest way forward?"
"I believe....." Severus drawled, "That it would do our effort a great deal of good to take Dumbledore's plans into consideration, whatever they may be."
Lily sighed as she gazed into her husband's dark eyes.
In a silent gesture of reassurance, Severus drew her close and kissed her sweetly.
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That particular Saturday afternoon was gray and rainy.
Narcissa hadn't come to the Snapes' cottage alone.
While Mrs. Malfoy and Severus clutched each other's forearms, Lily, er, Laima, watched from the living room chair as Bellatrix eyed them both and circled their clasped hands with a bond of golden magic.
Her eyes glowed with malice as she asked, "And do you, Severus Snape, vow to assist Draco Malfoy in the task the Dark Lord has given to him, should he fail to complete it?"
Lily could not hide her frown as she gazed at her husband's solemn expression.
"............Yes." Severus answered without blinking as he gazed into Narcissa's blue eyes.
The smile on Draco's mother's face irritated Lily beyond measure.
She instinctively realized that Narcissa didn't mind holding onto Severus.
Bellatrix waved her wand in one quick flourish.
That golden string of magic tightened and encircled the gripped forearms until it disappeared.
Severus wasted no time in releasing his grasp on Narcissa as soon as Bellatrix cackled, "It's finished!"
"Thank you, Severus." Narcissa said as she threw her old friend a smile Lily found a bit too grateful.
"For the good of our effort, it must be finished." Severus nodded, "It is my honour and my duty to further the Dark Lord's cause."
As Bellatrix and Narcissa turned to exchange their thoughts on what had just happened, Severus glanced over at Lily.
The agony on her husband's pale face broke her heart as she rewarded him with a wry smile of subtle reassurance.