Fic: Nine and Sixty Ways

Title: Nine and Sixty Ways
Pairing: Snape/Draco
Rating: ....er, dunno, but it's worksafe, if perhaps barely.
A/N: Excessive thanks to cursive, who cleaned this up a lot and also helped me make the underlying narrative more clear. (Who knows if it actually IS clear, but it is, I hope, closer.) And just for being a really cool person. :>

You may feel, hmm, inspired (because of the setup of the story, not by any particular brilliance on my part), or you may have already written one of the...shall I call them vignettes? Anyway, if you're inspired, feel free to write and just tell me 'cause I'll be curious.

Disclaimer: it's been so long I've forgotten my standard one. Um, I DISCLAIM!

*****

Nine and Sixty Ways

I.

He is quiet, docile, when they reach Spinner's End. He does not say, "This is beneath me." He does not complain when he is shown the tiny room where he will stay, with a hole in one corner from Pettigrew's former occupancy.

They cannot stay long; too many of the Dark Lord's followers are familiar with the place, though they do not often deign to come here, in the midst of a Muggle settlement. Several times in the first few days Snape sees shadows outside the windows. He does not know if they are Death Eaters checking up on him. He does not know if they are animals. He does not even know if they truly exist.

Draco remains in his room for the first week except to use the lavatory. The second week he creeps out silently at odd times of day, paler than usual, face drawn, foxlike. After two weeks and three days, he says, "Thank you."

Two days after that, the Dark Mark burns, and Snape drags Draco from the bedroom. They are on brooms before nightfall, away over the countryside, looking for another safe place. The boy is not strong enough yet to face the Dark Lord. Snape hides him in a park in Dover and goes to appease his master, just enough to buy a little more precious time.

II.

Or perhaps, he thinks, MacNair catches them the minute they leave the Hogwarts grounds. MacNair does not care that Dumbledore is dead—Draco did not do it. Before Snape can explain, they are both Petrified and taken to the Dark Lord's residence.

Snape can handle many things. He nevertheless did not realize how hard it would be to be restrained and forced to watch as Draco is Crucioed until he is mindless, then used for the pleasure of the other Death Eaters, then killed. Snape knows he is spared only because he is still useful. He is, for once, almost ungrateful for that fact.

III

Snape writes Narcissa before he leaves. When he and Draco reach the gates, she is waiting in a carriage, and Snape lifts Draco to the seat before he climbs in. Narcissa has already taken all the Malfoy money she can touch. They flee to a near-deserted mountainside, where there are locals willing to trade.

It is almost like a family.

IV

"You expect me to sleep on that?"

"Yes."

"You pulled me from feather beds to—"

"Would you like to survive?" Snape asks.

Draco looks around the cave, sullen, and doesn't answer.

V

They flee to Tuscany immediately after the battle. Draco is precious: golden in the sunlight, silver in the moonlight, with pale quartz hair and pearl-grey eyes. Snape can pass for Italian, and his Translation Charms are impeccable. They dine on fine fruits, fresh fish, rich wine. The servants do not question the dark man and his kept boy. Draco sleeps like a baby at night and Snape pretends he does not watch.

It is three months before they hear word of any events in England. By then, drunk on leisure and far from care, Snape does not bother to remember the news.

VI

The Dark Lord is pleased. Dumbledore dead and Draco, perhaps, not such a fool as he had expected. When they arrive at his manor, a feast is waiting.

"We celebrate tonight," the Dark Lord says, "for the death of an enemy and the winning of a war."

Nott clinks his glass with Draco's. Rabastan Lestrange tears into the roast meat with a hunger Snape begins to think he can understand. Wormtail serves the wine.

At Snape's right hand, Draco watches the proceedings with wide grey eyes, quieted in a way Snape has not seen since long before the boy came to Hogwarts. He looks around him like he owns the place, like his father.

"I think tomorrow we begin to plan another breakout from Azkaban," the Dark Lord says, and Draco lifts his head, straining as if he is not sure he heard correctly. The Dark Lord's lipless mouth stretches in a vile grin, and he says, "If Severus can give you up, young man," in Draco's general direction.

Snape whips his head to the side, missing Draco's reaction, though he has enough composure to continue to mask his thoughts. The Dark Lord smirks at Snape, but he says nothing further.

Later, as they are shown to adjoining rooms on the first floor, Draco says, "We'll get them out, won't we."

Snape nods. As he casts a watchful eye over his students, out of the fantasy again, he wonders when his plans changed so much.

VII

The house in Spinner's End. Draco takes Pettigrew's room. In the middle of the night, Snape slinks to his doorway and watches him sleep restlessly, cheeks pink and flushed with nightmare.

VIII

They retire to the sea-side. Lucius had taken Narcissa there for her health when Draco was young, and now he seems young again, kicking his feet in rocky sand or perched on boulders by cold grey water that reflects in his eyes.

Snape uses a little magic to catch fish, but mostly they live without casting new spells. It is quiet and serene. In the darkness at night, Draco breathes quietly with the rush of the tide.

When the war is over they return to Hogsmeade and set up house. It is a week before the neighbours realize who they are. So many have gone crazy or died since that night that no one even bothers to bring them to trial. Slowly they assimilate into a world desperate for living, productive people from any side, with so many lost in the decimating fighting.

Nearly ten years later Lupin regains his mind. He asks what Snape did during the fighting and Snape says he spied until there was no one left to take his information.

IX

They hide in the moors, but the Dark Lord finds them, as Snape suspected he would. He holds Draco hostage while Snape makes more potions, new and twisted things from the Dark Lord's imagination. Finally, when the war is won, Draco is released into Snape's custody on the promise he will never let the boy leave the house.

He comes home to find Draco shackled to the bed. With infinite care Snape releases him, rubs the soreness from his skin, and gives him his own room. He never asks for anything more.

X

Six months after Snape killed Dumbledore, and just after he gives a vital piece of information to the Tonks girl, Snape comes home to find Draco waiting for him.

"How did it go?" he asks.

"As planned," Snape says.

"Good," says a voice behind him. Snape turns: Rodolphus Lestrange, with his wand pointed at Snape's throat. "They will leave the Ministry unguarded, then."

"What..."

Draco laughs, a little sadly. "We've been feeding you false information, Snape. Using you."

"I suppose I should have expected it," Snape says.

"Yes," Rodolphus says. "Now come with me."

Snape follows him out of the house and Draco moves forward to walk with Rodolphus. Snape thinks there might be sadness in the look that Draco gives him, but it is probably his imagination.

XI

Of course they flee the grounds at first. Snape flips the Time-Turner thrice and no one is the wiser: who would question the Head of Slytherin bringing a guest into Hogwarts in the evening? They go to the lake and hide among the merpeople.

Draco is a natural in the water, and a few mermaids take it upon themselves to lead Draco and Snape safely through the tiny underground waterways that lead to the ocean and freedom.

XII

Snape sends Draco away with his mother. He works for the Dark Lord and is instrumental in winning the war.

XIII

Snape sends Draco away with his mother. He works for the Order, deep undercover, and is instrumental in winning the war.

Draco returns and becomes Snape's assistant. They do not talk of the war, but sometimes Draco turns thoughtful and then smiles sadly at Snape like they're the only two people in the world, and Snape knows he is forgiven.

XIV

Draco insists on bringing Pansy Parkinson with them.

Snape finds her intolerable: pushy and haughty and not terribly bright. But she calms Draco and strokes his ego in a way Snape cannot, and so tolerate her he must.

He does not mind leaving the two of them behind as he goes to do his small part in the war, because they have each other. He does not protest letting Pansy in on decisions, since Draco relies on her so much. So he supposes, when he comes home to find they have left together, that he should not be surprised. But the pain still feels like knives.

XV

Draco falls behind as they are fleeing. Finally, Snape must leave him or they will both be lost.

Later, as he dies, Snape thinks he sees grey eyes under a nebulous white-blond cloud of hair. But it might simply have been the last desperate thoughts of his dying mind.

XIV

The Dark Lord punishes them severely, but he does not kill them.

Snape is set to work, gathering information and formulating new spells and potions. After a particularly successful new torture, Draco is released to him.

"I'm to help you work," the boy says quietly from the doorway.

Snape hands him a mortar and pestle. "Work, then."

Taking the instruments, Draco moves to the table and sits in one of Snape's chairs. He's always been good at Potions, but something about his imprisonment has made him work that much harder, and before long the shells are crushed.

Snape comes over to take them, and Draco looks up, holding on to the mortar a bit too long. His eyes are different than Snape remembered, like long tunnels.

"Excellent work," Snape says. "They won't take you back."

Draco blinks once, but his relief is clear. Snape almost smiles as he adds the shells to his latest invention.

XVII

Captured and chained. Somehow the Dark Lord senses how close they have become, and forces each to watch the other's torture. When this does not succeed, he makes them participate.

XVIII

They Apparate to France. Snape sets up an automatic delivery of food and books, then puts Draco under a Fidelius Charm and returns to England. They correspond weekly, and occasionally Snape sends over new clothing or trinkets to entertain Draco.

After the war, amnesty is declared for all but the worst criminals. Snape invites Draco home. The reunion is sweet, and they remain friends for their long and fulfilling lives.

XIX

They run for two days, making jagged paths across Britain, hoping to lose the other Death Eaters. Eventually they reach the prearranged safe house, where Lupin and Tonks are waiting.

Lupin's mouth is set when he opens the door. "You went through with it," he says harshly.

"I could not have done otherwise and continued my work," Snape says. He herds Draco through the door and feels protective magic seal behind them. "Dumbledore was with me fully."

"He was our best hope," Lupin says.

"I thought that was Harry?" Snape counters.

Draco falls into a chair and curls in on himself, tired.

Tonks comes out of another room—the kitchen, it seems, from what Snape can see behind her—and says, "Harry was always our best hope for winning the war. Dumbledore was for winning it well."

Snape has no way to respond to that, so he says, "Draco is ready to take on his role now."

"Good," Lupin says.

Tonks opens another door. "In here."

Draco follows, leaving Lupin staring at Snape, anger still roiling under calm amber eyes. Lupin takes a breath. "We may let you live, Snape, but we'll never forgive you."

"That's all right," Snape says. He looks at the door, and though the anger is still there, something like understanding enters Lupin's eyes.

"See you remember it," Lupin says finally, and walks out, leaving Snape cold and tired in the bare foyer.

XX

They flee into the forest. Snape teaches Draco about subsistence living and feels useful. They stay there, hidden, until they figure both sides have cooled off, and then they emerge.

XXI

Immediately after the murder they go to the Dark Lord. Snape begs the Dark Lord's forgiveness for seeing the opportunity and taking it, for committing the act that had been assigned to Draco. No mention is made of his promise to Narcissa.

As punishment they are given the task of breaking the Death Eaters out of Azkaban—coming up with a plan by themselves, and requesting any necessary troops from the Dark Lord himself. They closet themselves together for a week and at the end have a workable outline.

The five Death Eaters granted by the Dark Lord do their jobs with perfunctory capability, but Draco shines, showing how much he has grown in the past year. He even casts Sectumsempra, after hearing it only once and nearly bleeding to death immediately afterwards. Snape is proud to work next to such a man.

After that, the Dark Lord always gives them assignments together. It is the only thing that makes the war bearable.

XXII

They do not escape. The Order catches them scarcely five miles from Hogwarts.

They are incarcerated first at the Ministry, awaiting trial, and then summarily moved to Azkaban before the trials take place. Snape cannot say he does not deserve it, but he wishes his cell were a little closer to Draco's, so he can have more of him than the desperate sobs he sometimes hears late at night.

XXIII

Even while leaving, they are not sure whether or not they will return to the Dark Lord. That choice is taken away from them, however, when a few masked Death Eaters show up to escort them to the Dark Lord's residence.

They are separated. Snape is imprisoned, forced to work on potions and spells while living in the squalor the Dark Lord usually reserves for Aurors too useful to kill. He does not know how long he toils, but eventually his guards do not come back at the appointed time. He is sure he will die forgotten until Kingsley Shacklebolt blasts the door open. Kingsley looks astounded to see who resides in the cell, but he recovers quickly, Stunning Snape and taking him to the Ministry.

In the aftermath of the war Dumbledore's papers are finally catalogued, including the ones that describe Snape's task. The Aurors release him, albeit grudgingly.

He shuffles out into the sunlight—after so many years in dungeons, he never realized how glorious true brightness could be—and to his surprise Draco is waiting for him, clean if a little worn. "They let me out three weeks ago," he says, and then laughs when Snape cannot think of anything to say. "You can stay with me," he continues. He picks up the bag that Snape is too weak to lift, even half-empty, and puts a hand on Snape's shoulder to guide him to their new home.

XXIV

They go to France and take a flat in Paris. Snape Apparates to a rural bakery every morning around six and gets fresh bread or rolls straight from the oven. Draco rolls out of bed around ten, as the city begins to really move, and whiles away his time among rich Muggles. They stay out of the wizarding community except to extract more money from Draco's copious personal Gringott's account; the goblins can be counted upon to ignore all concerns except those of the monetary variety.

After the war ends, they slowly return to the company of their own kind. They are known as the charming British pair, perpetual bachelors, always together. Years later, when Snape finally sees somebody he knew from Hogwarts, they do not recognize him.

XXV

Draco makes a face as he looks at his goblet. "There must be a way to improve the flavour."

"Many have tried," Snape says.

"Were they successful?"

"That depends upon your definition."

Draco waits.

"The best side effect was the complete loss of skin upon return to the original shape."

Draco wrinkles his nose one last time and drinks. Snape watches as skin bubbles, hair changes colour and lengthens, face grows thicker. Finally Draco stretches and looks at him. "Ready?" he asks, in the deeper voice of the Muggle whose hair they'd stolen.

Snape nods, and they leave to gather more information.

XXVI

Malfoy Manor is large enough to hide them far away from Narcissa. She could never keep secrets, so they do not give her another.

When she is gone, Snape and Draco head to the library. They mine the books there for spells to help them hide, to help them stay safe, to convince others that they are on their side should the need arise. The warm leather is comfortable, familiar, and Draco often grows drowsy as they read.

The wing where they hide has been deserted since Lucius's father's time. The house-elves know they are there, and bring them food, but Draco swears them to silence. As the man of the house they dare not disobey.

As the season turns to autumn, they take long walks in red and yellow leaves. An odd Gryffindorish colour scheme for a very Slytherin time of year, Snape reflects, considering the way one must pull in to oneself, beginning to make plans for the hard time ahead.

The Manor is cold in winter and they begin to sleep together to share body heat. They have their plans, now, and only await the right time to return to the Wizarding World. Even after seven months Narcissa has not guessed they are there. One morning Draco awakens and unthinkingly kisses Severus good morning.

XXVII

Caves are undoubtedly the best place to hide. Draco grows tired of hard stone, even with the best furniture they can conjure, and stars draping himself across Snape in the middle of the night. (Snape privately wonders how much more comfortable he is than Draco's bed, but doesn't comment.)

XXVIII

Minerva knows before the event—doesn't agree, but knows. She exploits the opportunity of having two spies within the Dark Lord's closest ranks, having two points of view to bring his plans into sharp three-dimensional focus. Several times throughout the war Snape thinks Draco has died, and comes as close as he ever does to making stupid mistakes; but always he is proven wrong, and they are both redeemed at the end of the war.

XXIX

"You told my mother you'd do it?"

Snape nods.

"So it was nothing about me."

"It was all about you."

Draco sniffs and his lips twist. "It was all about my mother and my family."

"She asked because it was you," Snape points out reasonably.

"And why did you agree?"

"Why do you think?" Snape steps closer so Draco must look up.

"I don't know," Draco says, but his voice is quieter, and he takes a step closer himself.

XXX

Before the event must take place, Snape performs a Fidelius on Spinner's End. When it is over he and Draco hide there, unseen by the outside world. Snape must occasionally leave to find food, but, unable to remember the location of his home, the Death Eaters do not find him.

Eventually, perhaps because of the enforced time together, Draco confesses his feelings. Snape takes the high road and says he is too old. When the war is over, they assume disguises. Snape makes sure he never sees Draco again.

XXXI

After several months of hiding out, Snape hears Draco wanking. That he no longer tries to hide it is, Snape supposes, a sign of Draco's growing discontent, or perhaps his growing apathy, with their situation. Several days after that, Snape wakes up to find Draco gone. As he expects, the Death Eaters show up a scant few hours later.

Snape does not live to see the end of the war, but he knows Draco will.

XXXII

They hide in the forest. Illusory magic always has its limitations—the time limit on Polyjuice, the size limit of an Invisibility Cloak—but here, with so many changes in so little space, it is easy to keep the small inconsistencies from being noticed. Draco is continually fascinated by the way they can pull a barely-spelled piece of cloth over themselves and completely avoid notice.

Snape slowly teaches Draco all the spells of deceit and concealment that he knows. Draco is an excellent student, of this and other things.

XXXIII

They flee to Spinner's End. Draco takes Pettigrew's...no...perhaps...he says he will take Pettigrew's room, but instead he needs comfort and sleeps in Snape's bed.

XXXIV

The Order catches them. A nameless Auror puts Snape in a basement cell, somewhere he does not know. He is questioned and tortured by turns—nothing compared to being in the Dark Lord's employ, of course, but still he bears the brunt of the anger and frustration of the Order. He is told several times that Draco has repented and begun spying, but he does not know if he should believe it.

Snape does not realize how far he has fallen until Harry Potter needs to practice the Cruciatus Curse.

XXXV

They go to the Channel Islands. They work for the Order, but pretend to work for the Dark Lord. They bring refugees through to France to hide, and they dispose of many of the Dark Lord's operatives in various creative ways.

Draco enjoys the coastline, squidging sand between his toes. They hadn't had time to pack, but Draco makes himself a bathing costume through a neat bit of tailoring done by magic.

"Think they'll ever notice?" Draco asks one day, idly, while they're sitting by the sea.

"Be specific."

"The Death Eaters. Do you think they will notice all the spies we meet disappear before their missions are complete?"

Snape shrugs. "It seems likely."

Draco looks out, into the grey overcast sky. "So one day one of them will kill us."

"No."

He turns, looks at Snape. "No?"

"We're the best the Dark Lord has. If he sends anyone after us, they will not succeed, and we can use that as ammunition against any claims against us."

Draco quirks an eyebrow. Snape returns the expression more ably, and Draco turns back to the sea.

"Because we can claim ignorance they were ordered to do so." Snape slips into the oily voice he uses for people needing appeasement. "My Lord, they were trying to kill us...obviously they were working against your interests...it's been taken care of, yes, my Lord."

Draco laughs quietly. "And he'll believe that?"

"No, but he won't be able to afford not to. Balance, Draco...we let through just enough of his men that he's never quite sure."

"I think I see the ship." Draco stands up, turns back to Snape. "How often are you sure?"

"Of what?"

"Anything."

"Surety depends on the situation."

"I hate it when you do that," Draco said. He leans in, closer, closer...waits until Snape's eyes have closed and pulls back. Draco laughs. "Very sure. I ought to learn that." He turns again and walks away, lithe and capable against the ocean.

XXXVI

They flee into the forest. Greyback's pack catches them and ties them up in a cave. Greyback himself turns Draco. Snape has time enough to think they shouldn't have chosen a forest before the pack turns on him.

XXXVII

The cell is dank stone on all sides, with some sort of green plant life nestled into the cracks. A rather Slytherin colour scheme, Snape thinks.

Draco turns against him in the dimness. "Think they're ever coming back?"

"When they feel like it."

"That's comforting."

"As you know, I live to please."

Draco snorts, a snuffling sort of sound into Snape's shoulder. "How much longer will they keep us here?"

"Till we are dead, or they are."

"I. I don't want to hurt any more." Draco's voice is smaller, and instinctively Snape curls one arm around him.

"You will be strong," Snape says.

Draco moves closer, insistent. "I don't want to hurt any more," he says again. "I want to feel something else."

Snape swallows. "Oh?"

"Yes." Draco leans his head in. "Please."

Snape runs one hand up along Draco's naked back, over the mostly-healed cut where Draco had thrown himself into a table during the rictus of Cruciatus, and knows he can no longer deny him anything.

XXXVIII

They set up an ambush. One's enemies are easy to trap when they want one too dearly. In short order, Harry Potter is chained and gagged in their basement. He twists and yells, apparently unaware that they've set up Silencing Charms. Who wants to listen to that, day after day?

Eventually they receive the letter: safe passage anywhere, in return for their hostage. They go to Norway, then disappear to another country, where no one finds them till long after the war is over.

XXXIX

He knows, when they break down the door, that he should have known. Malfoys are not meant for a life of hiding, after all, and what better prize than his companion? Snape does admit a little surprise that it is Alastor Moody, and not one of the Lestranges, who enters first, but he supposes the Order's price was higher.

XL

Bellatrix's face when Snape shows her the letter is a memory he will treasure for years. She is practically purple by the time she has read to the end.

"All right," she spits. "What do you want?"

"One month," Snape says. "Here. No word to the Dark Lord. At the end, we give you the letter."

"Done," she says. "But you stay in the basement."

Snape looks at Draco, and Draco shrugs. "It's a place to stay."

Snape nods. "Done," he says to Bellatrix, and ties the parchment with a black ribbon before they follow her down.

XLI

Or perhaps, Snape thinks, he does not succeed. The next day, Draco is gone. Snape receives half Draco's broken wand by Owl Post.

He wonders how Voldemort could have been so foolish as he finally finds the breakthrough that cures Dumbledore and assures that Snape's side will win the war.

XLII

"This is utterly miserable," Draco says.

Snape steps heavily on the spade before he replies. "I fully agree."

"I don't see why we can't use magic." Draco wipes dusty-sweaty hair out of his face. "Surely nobody does this for long periods of time."

"Often squibs do," Snape says. He scoops one last clod of dirt out of the hole and then gestures to Draco. "Using magic could make these dangerous to ingest after time. Hand me that."

Draco hauls the apple sapling over and holds it as Snape strips the cloth from the root ball. "Eating magic, even dangerous magic, would have to be better than this."

"Just wait till harvest," Snape says darkly, and sets the tree into the earth.

XLIII

They separate after the battle. Draco goes into hiding for a while, to mask their collusion, while Snape returns to the Dark Lord in triumph. Soon enough Draco makes a daring theft and brings the object back to the Dark Lord for his reward.

They are careful not to be seen together, but still sometimes they steal moments, quiet talking or peaceable silence among the clamour of war.

XLIV

The owl flies in smoothly through the open window, then lands on the breakfast tray. Draco sniffs and winds himself further into the bedclothes. Snape takes the letter and gives the owl some bacon.

Snape reads the letter carefully. Greyback has been seen in Switzerland. Snape writes a note to the Dark Lord, informing him that Greyback is performing his own special brand of recruitment, and gives it to the owl. Once it is gone, he writes another note to Minerva, warning of werewolf activity on the Continent.

Draco wakes up later, and leans over to kiss Snape sleepily before he half-falls naked out of bed and takes Snape's note down to the other owl on the ground floor. He comes back up after a few minutes and lies warm and smooth against Snape's chest. "Anything I need to know?"

"No," Snape says.

Draco steals a piece of toast.

XLV

This time, the note is written on a scrap of parchment. Snape doesn't know where Draco got it—ripped from the guards, perhaps, or traded with another inmate, or picked up off the floor, or paid for with favours Snape doesn't want to imagine.

To conserve the ink, it is short and simple. Next Friday we go. Ask T. at lunch Thursday. Love.

Snape sighs and hides the parchment beneath his bed. Prison has done things to Draco's mind he does not wish to think about, but he trusts that the boy's fantasies will carry him through till Snape's escape plans come to fruition.

XLVI

Draco is gone one day, no word. Snape belatedly realizes that the deadline has passed. He grovels for Draco's life and is granted it, but he never sees the boy again.

Years later Snape thinks he catches a glimpse of perfect white-blond through a crowd. It causes the first of the heart attacks that lead to an early, lonely death.

XLVII

"This was not what I had in mind," Draco says as he picks at the thin silver chain on his wrist.

"I doubt you had anything in mind," Snape says, leading the way down the hallway. "If you had, you wouldn't have ruined this so spectacularly."

"It's not ruined." Draco runs a finger between skin and silver links, as if testing the strength of the bracelet. "Just...disrupted."

"Idiot," Snape hisses. "How am I to work while watching you every second of every day? How are you ever to accomplish anything?"

"You won't watch me every second. You can't."

"Were you sleeping during the spell? Even if I am here, I will always know what you are doing, and I will always be able to control you."

Draco looks up with wide eyes, and Snape proves his point by silently ordering the boy through the door to the room beyond.

"He thinks you cannot work by yourself," Snape says. "Since I did the work for you."

"I did my own—" Draco says, then stops. He hesitates. "When does it end?"

"When the Dark Lord takes it off."

Draco looks down at the chain and back up at Snape. "At least it's you," he says.

Snape nods in understanding, and they close the door behind them.

XLVIII

The Order figures out a way for Dumbledore to live.

The night before Snape must carry out the mission, Remus Lupin comes to him and says it is not necessary. They have Draco in hiding before the hour is up, and Snape goes to the Dark Lord with a tale of a turncoat. The Dark Lord assigns the job to Mulciber, the fool, and it is no longer Draco's task—and therefore it is no longer Snape's.

XLIX

"This could be fun," Draco says.

Snape grins and runs the chain through one hand.

"You look good when you're happy."

Setting down the chain, Snape says, "How could I be otherwise?" He runs his hands over the equipment, fingers a nasty potion he'd almost forgotten how to make till the need was there.

"How long do we have?" Draco asks.

Snape looks down at the boy, bound and gagged between them, with just a slit of Slytherin green between drugged lashes. "At least a couple of days, I should think," he says, and puts his hand over Potter's heart.

L

Snape asks, "How are you today?" as he pours the medicine into a goblet.

"Hurts," Draco says hoarsely.

"It will be over soon," Snape says. "Another week."

"All right."

"Drink this."

Draco takes the goblet and drinks from it. Snape removes the cup from his hand as Draco falls backwards, asleep again to heal. Snape traces his fingers over the revealed scars—recent up the stomach, along his forearm, old tracery on his sternum—before he leaves.

LI

Avery should remember what kind of dueller Snape is, Snape reflects as he walks down the corridor of the Dark Lord's prison. But he never was the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Draco does a passable imitation of a damsel in distress as Snape opens his cell, and Snape picks him up in reward. Draco squeaks, and Snape smirks, and they leave before anyone can catch them.

LII

"I always forget how beautiful they are," Draco says.

Snape makes a noise halfway between agreement and protest.

"The stars," Draco says. "They're so...I can understand why people do magic when they see them." He ruins the effect by cutting his eyes sideways, checking Snape's reaction.

"I never figured you for a poet, Mr Malfoy."

"Draco." He squeezes closer. "This isn't what I expected."

"Nor I." Snape lifts the edge of one of his blankets, and Draco rolls under.

"Think they'll find us?"

Snape snorts. "Hardly. They'll be looking for you at every top hotel on the Continent."

"We have a little time then," Draco says, and Snape nods, knowing Draco can feel it. "Enough time for this..." Draco continues, and then small hands run up Snape's shoulders. There is the briefest pause between the kiss and Draco opening his eyes, in which Snape knows he has already said yes.

LIII

"What do you think?"

Snape smirks. "Not what I had in mind."

"Really?" Draco adjusts his loose white shirt, open to the waist to reveal a long expanse of pale skin. "Too much?" He smirks back.

"It seems impractical. And conspicuous."

Draco drops himself in Snape's lap. "Don't want other people looking at me?"

"They can look," Snape says, "but they can't have."

"Mmm." Draco turns, grins. "And how's the eye patch?"

"Entirely unwarranted," Snape says.

"Dolohov keeps saying we're pirates."

"Dolohov has an entirely unwarranted sense of humour."

"Well, this rocking motion..."

Snape sniffs. "I would have thought you'd be seasick."

"Look at it this way," Draco says. "At least I didn't make myself a parrot."

LIV

Snape leaves Draco with Alastor Moody. Despite his flaws, Moody is the Order member most likely to keep Draco safe, so Snape tells Draco to put up with it and leaves him behind. Some things are too dangerous, and Snape won't risk Draco along with himself.

LV

The Dark Lord is pleased, so pleased, to see them return. Dumbledore is dead—and with no witnesses to say it was not Draco, he cannot even fault them for disobeying orders. He is happy until the end of the celebration—when Snape and Draco kill him, too.

Snape stands at Draco's right shoulder as Draco proclaims that they have taken over leadership. No one dares contradict them.

LVI

Draco kills Dumbledore.

LVII

Snape is thankful that the Killing Curse was not specified. He kills Dumbledore—throttles the life out of him in a very satisfying manner—but Poppy is standing by and resuscitates the old man immediately.

Draco takes up working for the Order, doing the airborne reconnaissance Potter is too lazy to provide.

It is only a year later, with Dumbledore's mental faculties failing and the world crumbling around them, that Snape wonders if Dumbledore had it right during that very first meeting, when he said his time was almost up in any case.

LVIII

"I didn't think it would come to this," Snape says.

"Could it have gone any other way?"

Snape looks out over the burning towers and says nothing.

Draco reaches out, as if to touch the flames. "I wonder if they'll think I've perished," he says, nodding to the small figures fleeing the castle.

"They probably won't be worried about you," Snape says, "especially if one of their precious Gryffindors doesn't make it out."

A peal of music rings out, shockingly bright and beautiful over the weird yellow glow of the night. Snape wants to curl up on himself, to hurt, and he realizes after a shocked second that it is phoenix song.

LIX

"This is completely absurd!" Draco says, or rather squeaks.

Snape smirks. "Your grammar isn't incorrect, Draco."

"I refuse to put up with this!"

"I'd think you'd be trying to appease me, boy, if you want to be turned back."

Draco's eyes bulge out—a not insignificant feat. "I WILL NOT STAY LIKE THIS!"

"No one will ever realize it's you," Snape says.

"They bloody well better not!"

Snape sits down. "Language. Get me a cup of tea."

Draco makes a noise that is not a word but flounces off to the kitchen, newly-minted house-elf ears bobbing as he mutters to himself.

LX

They make plans, slowly, so slowly that Snape wonders if they will finish before the Dark Lord becomes angry. But it is sometimes hard, among the usual concerns of the school year, to remember how much they must do. And this year is different as well: the two of them growing closer, learning each others' ways, as they plot future actions.

Draco is gone one day, no word. Snape realizes that his time is up. He goes to the Dark Lord to grovel for Draco's life, but the boy is already dead.

LXI

Nothing with Malfoys is ever normal. Draco can't seem to deal with anything: sulky and hysterical by turns, fine for a few hours only to suddenly act like the spoilt child he was at eleven, angry outbursts followed by sullen silence, and occasional short periods of weeping just for variety. After four days, Snape Obliviates him, then tells him they're in hiding, reasons unspecified and unimportant.

When Draco decides on a rather incorrect reason for the two of them being together, Snape doesn't dissuade him.

LXII

Making things up to the Dark Lord is a long, messy, painful process for both of them, but they do it.

Slowly he parcels out small tasks to them in between bouts of sadistic pleasure. Snape begins to make potions again, to teach spells and hexes to the younger Death Eaters; Draco goes out on missions unknown. Slowly they are accepted back—not forgiven nor forgotten, but...permitted. Slowly they become part of the landscape again.

When Potter finally and with many mistakes reaches the Dark Lord, it is Snape who stabs the old bastard in the back. The shock in Potter's eyes is worth the whole damned thing, and if Snape's treatment by the side of Light is not what he had hoped, well, he still has Draco to know it all.

LXIII

The dusty dinginess of Spinner's End does not dampen their spirits. Draco sleeps in Snape's bed out of fright the first night, but soon it is more. Snape nearly has a crisis of conscience, but reminds himself that they might not have much longer, and then he is too far gone to stop.

LXIV

There are many ways Severus Snape thought he would die, but holding Draco's eyes as the grey scaly skin almost comes between then, as the horrible mouth closes upon his own, is far worse than most he had imagined.

LXV

Snape realizes he should have checked their wine. Unfortunately he realizes it after he's already gasping for air and the Death Eaters have shown themselves.

LXVI

"I love you," Draco says, breath warm and full of peace on his ear.

"Likewise," Snape says. He curls one arm around Draco's waist.

"They won't find us now, right?" Draco sounds slightly upset, and Snape thinks that the potion is setting in, confusing him.

Snape says, as soothing as he can be, "No, they won't. We'll be safe."

"All right." Draco leans his head into Snape's shoulder, pliant, warmer than he ought to be. "I'm glad I'm going with you."

"Likewise," Snape says again. He is startled to hear how weak his voice is becoming.

Draco plucks at Snape's robes a little as Snape leans against the wall, suddenly so tired. Draco goes limp and it is almost like sleep, Snape thinks, as the darkness comes over his eyes.

LXVII

Draco curls his hands into the chains. "I thought all those tales of Death Eater orgies were just bragging," he says nonchalantly.

"You have an odd definition of orgy."

"There are more of you coming, aren't there?"

"Oh no," Snape says, mouth curling upward. "You are my own personal sex slave."

"Hey!" Draco says. "I'm not a—wait, I'm not good enough for an orgy?"

Snape steps closer. "You're my reward for good behaviour."

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult," Draco says.

"Don't think about it too much," Snape says. "You'll frown, and that creates early wrinkles."

Draco makes an offended sound, and Snape smiles as he frees Draco from most of the restraints.

LXVIII

The thick silver-green liquid nearly makes him gag, but Snape drinks it down anyway. He doesn't even flinch as his bones and muscles shift.

Like any potion he brews, this one is perfect, and when the Death Eaters break down the door twenty minutes later, they take the bait. Snape hopes as he dies that they don't search very hard, or they might question why there are two Draco Malfoys in the house.

LXIX

He will wake up one morning, the scent of warm skin in his nostrils, and he will open his eyes to meet grey in the dim filtered light of the just-risen sun.

"Hullo," Draco will say, sleepy and comfortable, nestled against Snape's side. "Sleep well?" ...No, that is too pedestrian. He will say, "Good to see you this morning."

"You as well," Snape will say. He will press one hand against the smooth swell of flesh beneath it. "I was thinking about it again."

"Over and done with." He will still be astonished at the way Draco will snuggle in closer, completely at ease. "Besides. That's when I knew."

"Knew what?"

It is amazing, how real the clean bedroom is to his mind, superimposed on nightmarish Hogwarts stairs.

"That you loved me. What you did, just for me."

"Always for you." Snape will tilt his head down for a kiss, and Draco will meet it eagerly, sweet against his lips.

"It's funny. I thought it never would be over." Draco will start to draw patterns on Snape's chest.

"I thought so too. I still think so, sometimes."

"But look where we are."

Towertop.

"Yes. Look where we are."

"And it doesn't matter any more. It's just us."

"As it should be," Snape will agree.

Draco's face will be concerned. "Severus?"

"Please," another voice croaks, and Snape is raising his wand.

One act. Just one more.

And then, who knows?

*****

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