"You've got to be joking," he says softly, a faint smile turning the corners of his mouth for a moment as he looks down at them. Elsbet runs her tongue up his shaft from his bush to his head, making Snape moan very low, and Malfoy rests his head on the bed. "This is going to kill me..." She giggles and asks Malfoy if he's alright. He tells her he's not, then flashes her a wicked grin. "I can do that too, you know," he says, then licks from the bush around to the head, then up and over it. Snape moans his appreciation, and Elsbet raises herself up just a bit. She winks at Malfoy, then gently...

Snape listens to them chat, glancing from time to time at Elsbet and Malfoy, dying to know what is going on with him. At last, after the meal is nearly done, Malfoy asks him how his day has been. Snape replies that it was fortunately uneventful, then he tells them, "I believe I may be home for a day or two, for the weekend." As the dishes are cleaned up and leftovers stowed, everyone seems to have an idea of what to do for those two days, even the birds. They range from swimming in the small lake in the center of the District (the birds' idea) to visiting the Silhouettes' outpost in the Southfarthing...

Just on the perifery of her mind...

Did she miss something? She must have. Somewhere along the line, she must have. Who was the first to disappear? Lucius. Then Greyback vanished. Then these three, and she's heard the Carrows whispering that Draco is missing.

That's six.

But...Severus couldn't have killed them all. Could he have?

She passes empty rooms as she goes down the long, dimly-lit hallway to the bedroom she shared with Lucius, trying to fit things together in her mind. She reaches the bedroom and something occures to her.

Dumbledore, and the Unbreakable Vow.

She has to sit down. She runs...

In this darker frame of mind, he ponders how things might have been if Dumbledore had simply never put on that damned cursed ring. Ah, but then, there was the equally damned and cursed Unbreakable Vow...if it had just been 'orders from the Dark Lord', he would have found a way...a way to fake Dumbledore's death...but for that Vow. There was the potion the Silhouettes had given him, the potion he never got the chance to try, which he still had. But for that Vow, he thinks. But what about the other Vow? The one he gave that locked him into this life was not to Dumbledore, but to Lily, though...

Malfoy looks up on the wall at Elsbet's odd Muggle timepiece and sighs. He knows Snape will be leaving soon. Everyone's finished their sandwiches, though they're still munching on biscuits...he doesn't wait. There's so much he wants to do before Snape departs for Hogwarts.

"Ellie, let's have a look at the other things," he says, rising, and Elsbet does the same. Carefully, she takes out the other items, looking at each one as she hands them to Malfoy, who looks at them, then passes them to Therion, and so they go around the table. Remus and Snape pay the most attention to them, checking each...

As Snape approaches Perdurabo's grand house, he sees that several Silhouettes are awaiting him. Cappadocius and her group embrace him and tell him that their outpost in the Southfarthing is finished and occupied, and that the rookery is already being settled. Cappadocius tells him that they took the liberty of crafting a lake between the rookery and the outpost, and that their Picadors have seeded the lake with roe from different fish, and shoots of compatable aquatic plants. In a week or so, the lake will be full of life. Snape asks, "what have you named it?" Shiver says, "well, we've planted...

With breakfast ready, the wizards carry their trays into the living room, and through the door Elsbet created. Once outside, they find themselves in a masterpiece in progress. She's creating a little park, a park just for them, complete with shady trees, fragrant flowers, soft grass and even a little pond. Snape's heart skips a beat. A pond...she must know, somehow, that her pond, with all her beloved fish, is gone. He will make it up to her, he will make it right...

There's even a picnic table, and they lay out the trays on it, then look around the little park. "Ellie," Therion smiles, "did...

He feels a soft, feathery touch on his forehead, almost between his eyes. The touch comes and goes and brings with it a very slight pressure, as though something very small were pushing against him. The touch is accompanied by a whisper of a voice in his mind, a voice so small most Magicals would not perceive it. 'k up! 'k up! the little voice says, Lusus, 'k up! He will not let himself laugh, he will not hurt his little visitor's feelings, but his joy is so great he almost can not contain it. His eyes open to find the tiny raven Familiar of his beloved Severus Snape, trying mightily to wake...

Eight am comes entirely too early, and Malfoy isn't sure he really feels like getting out of bed. Especially since he has Elsbet beside him. Or she was...he forces his eyes open and sees the pretty girl sitting on the side of the bed, already dressed for the day. She's braided her hair--he wishes she had waited, he would have done it for her. He reaches for her and she turns quickly when she feels his hand, smiling at him softly. "Did I wake you?" She leans across the bed as she asks him, then kisses him playfully. "No," he says, then realizes she's sucking a cherry candy. "Where'd you get...

The good thing about being him in a situation like this is that he can Apperate in and out of the city; any other Magical from Snape's side of the Divide has to request permission to enter.

He's at Elsbet's dojo before anyone knows he's there, and his heart pounds as he passes through the ornate doors. It's quiet inside, which is unusual for this time of day and this does not improve his mood. As he walks through the empty training area he is met by the tiny elder woman everyone calls 'Oma', and slows his pace for her. "Is she...injured?" Snape asks and Oma tells him it is not a physical injury....

The little group reaches the happy home and as they pass through the doorway last, Snape catches Elsbet up and asks her quietly, "please, promise me you will not go back there without me. That place makes me...uncomfortable. Will you promise me?" She looks at him for just a moment, her brows knitting, then stands up on her tiptoes to kiss him. There is a giggle in her heart, but she will not make light of his feelings; her kiss is like the brush of butterfly's wings on his lips, then she looks deeply into his glinting black eyes. "I promise you." As he hugs her to him, he hears Malfoy say,...

Snape sleeps for several hours, waking only when the room has gotten a bit chilly. He looks up at the hole in the ceiling and marvels at the stars for some time, then closes the hole. He sits up and turns slightly, his gaze falling on the three people sharing the bed with him. He marvels at them, at the wonder of the four of them here in this room, in this house, in this city. Elsbet sleeps soundly, wrapped tightly and securely in Malfoy's arms, Therion sleeps with his arms around them. Dumbledore always said Love is the most powerful Magic there is, and Snape has always known the truth of...