Several minutes pass before either speaks. Malfoy clears his throat and rubs his eyes. "What did you do to him?" Snape turns slightly and looks at him. "I had every intention of killing the bastard." There is another long silence, then Snape says, "I've not spoken of this with anyone. It is sill...quite difficult." Malfoy nods and tells him, "that's understandable, Severus...you don't...you don't have to tell me..." he looks away and says, "I don't want to intrude any more than I already have." Snape gives Malfoy a slightly befuddled look, then asks him what he's talking about. When the pale wizard gives him only a guilty look in response, he asks, "you're not going to just walk away now, are you?"

Malfoy can't seem to find the right words, and he does not wish to misspeak. He rises and looks down into the pond, his heart and head feeling very heavy. "This means more than just you being seriously involved with a Muggle, Severus," he says evenly. His walking stick firmly planted in the grass, he places both hands on the snakehead and leans forward on it. "What does it mean, Lucius?" Snape asks, something dark in his voice that the other wizard does not miss. "Obviously, Severus, it means you've betrayed the Dark Lord." Snape rises and moves to the opposite side of the pond, directly across from Malfoy.

"Is this what you believe?" The raven-haired wizard asks and Malfoy nods, still gazing into the pond. "It couldn't be more clear to me that you have. I find you with a Muggle woman whom you tell me you love, and that you're willing to kill to protect her. You have her secreted away just on the boundary between our world and theirs, in a house you built for her with Magic. You protect her with extraordinarily ancient Dark spells, spells we both know Dumbledore would forbid you to use, and I saw you perform Legilimency that was more like foreplay than magic. What have I left out?" His head is down, but his grey eyes stare up at Snape with a lethal glare.

Snape says nothing, but never lets his gaze leave Malfoy's. The older wizard inclines his head slightly and asks, "she collects information for you, am I correct?" Snape straightens. "Yes. She is my Agent in the Muggle World." Malfoy stands as if frozen for a moment or two, then recovers himself and gives a chilly laugh. "That fragile creature? How can you possibly--" the flash of anger in Snape's eyes nearly makes him choke, and he almost wishes he could take it back. The silkiness of Snape's voice does not hide the jagged edge within it. "There is far more to her than meets the eye, and she is far stronger now than when I first met her."

Malfoy takes two steps to the right, and Snape does the same. "You've been training her?" Snape smirks at Malfoy's incredulous question, but answers him without sarcasm. "I teach her what I can, guide her when necessary, but her training is in the hands of another, one who has mastered the discipline in which she excells." Snape takes three steps to the right and Malfoy does the same, his heart pounding. "But this isn't about Elsbet," Snape says, "this is about us, Lucius." Malfoy takes another few steps and Snape does likewise, until they stand in their opposite positions with the pond still between them. "The question is Lucius, what do we do now, you and I?"

In the span of perhaps the blink of an eye, the wizards have drawn on each other; their wands held with steady hands, yet both great hearts are trembling. Wordlessly the duel is joined, but what do they duel for? Survival, dominance, or simply the assertion of Snape's determination to see his ultimate goal come to fruition. Whatever the reason the action is swift and graceful, the magic hot and Dark, and the air around them crackles as they move away from the pond and closer together. There are stray shots that leave the grass smoking, and a deflected spell shatters the stone bench. Mere moments later Snape disarms Malfoy, and though he could continue dueling wandlessly, a misstep takes him off his feet and drops him to his knees.

Slowly, after stowing his wand in his sleeve, Snape approaches Malfoy, who makes no effort to rise. Snape stands before him victorious, and Malfoy lowers his head as if he thinks this wizard would actually dispatch him. Snape reaches down, slips his hand under Malfoy's chin and brings that grey-eyed gaze up to his. He draws his hand away but Malfoy's gaze lingers on his and Snape offers him his hand. Malfoy takes it and Snape pulls him up, chiding him softly, "was that really necessary, Lucius?" As Snape walks over to pick up Malfoy's wand, the defeted wizard answers. "Damnit, Severus, I can not just walk away from the Dark Lord!"

Snape returns Malfoy's wand to him, and goes back to the ruined bench. "I am not asking you to, Lucius." With a wave and turn of his hand, Snape repairs the bench, then faces Malfoy again. Malfoy sheaths his wand and sighs, shaking his head. "Then what--" Snape interrupts him. "Lucius, you have to decide what is right for yourself. You're deeply invested, I understand, you have your wife and son to think of. If you defect, what happens to them?" Something in Snape's black-silk voice moves something deep within him, and Malfoy feels less certain of his place in the world than he ever has before.

"But if I don't we are on opposite sides," Malfoy says softly, and Snape nods, approaching him so slowly that Malfoy doesn't notice until they are just inches apart. "Severus," he says softly, desperately, "what would you ask of me?" Snape looks deeply into him and replies, "tonight I have shown you my secret heart; I would ask you not to break her." Malfoy looks away, and a sound somewhere between an laugh and sob escapes him. "Your secret heart? Severus, you are mine...what affects her affects you, and so affects me...I will do nothing that will bring harm to her. I swear that--" Snape slips his hand around Malfoy's waist and pulls him close. "I will hold you to that," he says as he slides his other hand under Malfoy's hair, bends his head back just slightly, and kisses him.

It is more than Malfoy had hoped for, more than he feels he deserves, and while it is brief, it is enough to make him burn. Before his eyes open, he hears Snape whisper in his ear, "Stay out of trouble. I want to keep you in one piece." Snape releases him and turns quickly, walks a few paces away, turns again, then Disapperates.

Alone, Malfoy stands as if rooted to the spot. He's facing the direction of Elsbet's little house and he finds himself thinking about how unexpected the events of the night have been. He needs to sit down. He needs to go home. No, he thinks, I need more peppermint schnapps. He walks slowly over to the bench on unsteady legs and sits down. He wants to be with Snape, and he wants things to not be so complicated. He finds himself staring into the fish pond, but it doesn't bring him the peace he'd hoped it would.

It's some time before he finally goes home, and when he does, the tingle of Snape's kiss is still on his lips.