—————H—————

Hermione watched as the older students tried to duel each other, some succeeding more than others. And those who wouldn't fight were huddled together learning some quick Healing, Poppy in the room to teach them before she had to leave for the infirmary again, lest the Carrows grow suspicious.

Then again, that would require a brain.

Hermione had a parchment on a book in her lap, a self-inking quill in her hand, as she tried to calculate the date of the final battle. Any attempts before had only led to inconclusive results. Which made sense because she didn't have all the facts. But now they did, in a way. They knew where the diadem was, it was merely a matter of figuring out where Riddle had hidden it. They had a hunch that the cup was in Gringotts because Severus quite clearly remembered the Dark Lord giving Bellatrix something at the same time he'd given Lucius the diary. Since the Lestranges' property was all turned over to the Ministry after their arrests and the cup hadn't appeared, she'd certainly hidden it. They just needed a way to destroy it and....

Inconclusive, but it appeared that it would be near summertime this year. Soon, then. They wouldn't have to wait years for all this to end. By this time next year, their family would be on the other side of the war, come what may. But Hermione had no desire to calculate everyone's chances at survival.

As a few of the dueling pairs took a break, Hermione watched Neville weave his way over to her. She banished the parchment and quill to her desk in her chambers, and then watched expectantly as he took a seat in the chair next to hers.

"You've improved quite a bit, even since last year," she complimented with a smile.

Neville looked proud. "It's been necessary."

"Either way, you're doing a fine job," she assured.

His smile waned as he nodded, looking down at the floor. "Mione, if... if when I see her again... if I apologize...."

"Neville," Hermione said slowly, but relented when he held up his hand.

"I know it's going to take a lot to get her to forgive me. But will I stand a chance?"

"Neville," Hermione said once more, more firmly this time. "You're a nice, sweet boy. And I'm sure Aurora's feelings for you, whatever they may have been, probably haven't changed that much since she left. But I also can't speak for her. I don't know what chance you'll have with her, but I did teach her to forgive, so I'm sure she'll at least do that much."

"Do you think she'll come back?" he asked quietly.

"Before the end of the war? No, not unless it's to fight. They're doing well out there. She's helping them balance and helped us get information we really needed. She wouldn't have found a place here so easily."

"She could have helped teach others to heal!" he said instantly.

Hermione laughed and shook her head. "And this is why you need to change your thinking before you approach her. There are a lot of ways she could have helped here, that's true. But it was Aurora's choice, and she needed you to support her. Neville... you can't... you can't just decide things for a girl. It's very sweet that you wanted to make sure she was okay after everything that happened last year, but to have written your grandmother and assumed because she said Aurora could be with you that Aurora would? Having a contingency plan is smart, but to just assume she would agree with those plans? That's not how it works."

"I get that now, I do," Neville said. "But I just wanted to keep her close, keep her safe. I know she doesn't need someone to keep her safe, but...."

"You love her," Hermione said in understanding, and then felt terrible for the young man. She opened her mouth, thinking about warning Neville of Fred's hopes, but stopped. She could not decide for Aurora one way or another, and she shouldn't play favorites with the young men. Both had changed since her days at Hogwarts: Fred was now a mature young man; Neville was no longer the timid boy she'd met in first year. She had not been their age for many, many years. She had no personal understanding of them anymore.

"I do," Neville admitted. "And I think she loves me back, but I really can't be sure. I want to be. I even thought that asking her to stay would help me know, but."

"If you really love her, Neville, let her go."

"But I have."

"You haven't," Hermione admonished lightly. "She ended your relationship, I know that much. So, when I say, 'let her go,' I mean don't keep running after her. Don't keep begging her to stay. Wait. She'll choose for herself, one way or another. If she loves you, she'll choose you."

"And if she doesn't?" he asked in a small voice.

"Then why would you want to keep trying to be with someone who doesn't love you? Remus hung on to the hope that I would leave Severus someday. He held onto that hope for so long that he lost someone who really loved him. Who would have done anything for him. Now, well, now he has someone who cares, of course, and loves him, but it's not the same. Don't let that be you."

Neville nodded. "I won't," he said, nearly sounding defeated. But then he smiled, bright and honest. "Anything I can do to help her?"

"I don't know," Hermione confessed. "But I'm sure as soon as Severus and I think of something, we'll let you know."

And it was then that she knew he'd listened, because when she said Severus' name, he didn't flinch, didn't sneer. He'd learned. And if he ever wanted a chance with Aurora, this was a step in the right direction.

—————S—————

The Dark Lord was still away, his pets in tow, and it provided Severus an opportunity he'd been mulling over for the last couple weeks. He'd waited until after the holidays, to just before the students would be returning to the school. The Carrows had returned, and he'd told Hermione and the students in the Room of Requirement so they wouldn't be caught roaming the halls without him there to run intervention. Their return meant that there were even fewer people around that could witness and thereby be suspicious of what he was doing at Malfoy Manor.

He Apparated outside the gates, once more despairing at how much Narcissa's absence had caused the once fine Malfoy Manor to fall into despair. His Dark Mark granted him access to the grounds, and he strode up the walkway, shoulders squared, head held high. He walked into the manor like he owned it.

A house-elf hopped from foot to foot nervously in front of him, pulling on its ears.

"Mr. Malfoy?" he asked the elf.

"Sir, Master who is not Master is in his study, sir."

Severus nodded at the elf and made his way to the study. He passed no one on the way and simply opened the door to Lucius' study.

The man was as far from put-together as Severus had ever seen him, though he was still meticulously dressed. But there was a lack of finery to it, which emphasized how matted his hair was. Too many cleansing charms, not enough proper care, something Severus recognized from experience. The man was sitting with his feet on his desk, crossed at the ankles, firewhisky in hand, staring at the frozen family portrait.

"I have to make sure," he said as Severus walked in and closed the door. "I stare at it whenever I can. I fear the day I walk in here and either Cissy or Draco smile at me. Or scowl, I'm never sure how they'll greet me."

"I wish I could tell you which one it'll be, but they keep their feelings to themselves," Severus said as he sat down.

"Would you like a whiskey? I can't imagine the last few weeks have been easy for you. Then again, you moved on quickly enough."

"If you mean my affair with my Potions Mistress, it's not a matter of moving on, so much as stress relief. Running a school full of hot-headed teenagers and overseeing a pair of sadists can be trying."

"Hmm," Lucius hummed in agreement. "Oh, I don't doubt that at all. I'd hoped that ... that the Carrows, or at least one of them, would cross a line again and I could take over their position."

"But how would you see your painting?" Severus quirked a brow, and Lucius shook his head.

Glancing around the room, Severus carefully took out his wand, keeping the movement hidden from Lucius, and placed a Muffliato . He then scanned for any spy devices, startling the blond when one went up in flames just by the window.

Severus grinned. "It appears that you aren't trusted. The question is by whom."

Lucius scoffed. "That would be Bellatrix," he said before taking a hearty sip of his whiskey. "She thinks I know where Draco and Cissy are. She tried to find the villa in France, but it's Secret-Kept, so she had a difficult time."

"She was smart to investigate that particular abode. I believe that Cissy was there for a time, as was Draco."

Lucius' head whipped around and stared at Severus. "Was he?"

"Yes."

"With?"

"Friends."

"When he should be at Hogwarts?"

Severus shrugged. "The company he keeps isn't welcome at Hogwarts, and the one he's particularly fond of would probably be killed on sight."

Lucius tapped his finger against his glass, pursing his lips. "He always did go on about Potter far too much for it to be healthy. I'd like to think I'm a modern wizard, that such relations do not bother me. And I suppose they don't. It wasn't so much seeing Draco at the Ministry in the arms of a man, but more being in the arms of the enemy. I knew I'd lost him then. That somewhere along the way, he took a look at what he'd always been taught, what I'd always been taught, and decided he didn't like it. What could have changed his mind...?"

"Perhaps," Severus said, clearing his throat, "he discovered that someone he always thought was a pureblood was not?"

Lucius scoffed. "He's always known your blood status."

"I wasn't speaking about myself," he offered. When Lucius frowned, he shook his head. "It doesn't matter. The point is, Draco is now very firmly on Potter's side. The question you must ask yourself now is if you want to see him again."

"Of course I do," Lucius snapped. "Him and Cissy, though why she ever felt the need to change sides...."

"She did it for the same reasons you would: for Draco."

"To follow Albus Dumbledore?"

"No, to follow Harry Potter."

Lucius narrowed his eyes in thought and confusion. He took his feet off the desk, set down the tumbler of whiskey, and leaned toward Severus. "Is there a difference?"

"A large one, actually," he replied. "For one, Albus Dumbledore was nothing more than another Dark Lord in saint's robes."

"Yes, Potter is the enemy of our Lord."

"Perhaps, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend, isn't he?" And when Lucius looked ready to argue, Severus held up his hand. "Consider what you don't have because you were so set on pleasing the Dark Lord. You lost your seat on the board of governors because of the incident with Miss Weasley and a certain diary. You lost your home to the Dark Lord upon his return. Though it's hard to determine if that came before or after losing your wife and child because you were sent to Azkaban. You have since lost your wand and whatever dignity you might have had. Your guest, the man who took over your manor, has been gone who knows where for two weeks now, and yet I find you in the one place you can still truly claim as your own."

"And what would you have me do, Severus?" Lucius asked. "I very well can't turn him out of house, now can I? It would be my head. I'd like to live to see the end of this war."

"Regardless of the outcome?"

"Frankly, at this point, I don't care if the Mudbloods run rampant and destroy our way of life. I want my wife! I want my son! I want the Malfoy name to mean something again instead of being nothing more than a disgrace." He pounded the desk. "I lived nearly fifteen years keeping my mouth shut and my opinions to myself to remain civil. It was not ideal, but it was a better life than the one I have been living. My ideals, desires, for our world may be in place, but to what end? I did not say I would give up my family, my life, so we could have a pure world."

"And purity would be the end of our kind as well, you must know that."

Lucius scoffed. Then he frowned. Severus watched as he mulled that idea over, considering the implications.

"I was the only heir to my line. My father was... and now Draco. Yet the Blacks... but the Parkinsons. The Lestranges."

"The Lestranges are essentially no more. Both brothers' inclinations don't tend to lead to reproduction. If Bella were to fall pregnant, it wouldn't be with her husband's child."

"No," Lucius agreed, a sneer of revulsion curling his lips. "It certainly wouldn't."

"If you truly do not care who the victor of this war is, then I have a small favor to ask you. To be done preferably before the Dark Lord returns."

"I suppose that depends on the favor."

"It's quite simple, really. I believe Bellatrix was given an item by the Dark Lord at the same time you were, all those years ago. I assume you know where it's being kept, and more so, you're able to retrieve it. You were considered the holder of the estates once the Lestranges went to prison, were you not?"

"I was." Lucius frowned. "And to my knowledge, none of them were aware of it to reverse the decision."

"Good, this will allow you to retrieve the object without question."

"And why do you want it, Severus?"

"Because I want this over, once and for all."

"Well then," Lucius said, picking up his tumbler and downing the last of his whiskey. "Let's not waste time, shall we?"

—————S—————

They strode through Diagon Alley to Gringotts; it was relatively quiet considering the time of year. But then, most everything was boarded up, the owners on the run or in hiding. When they entered the bank, they barely got more than a glance from the goblins, and the witches and wizards present seemed hesitant to go near the pair, let alone look at them.

Lucius walked to the main desk, head held high, a bit more presentable than he had been earlier thanks to a couple of well-placed Glamours. He cleared his throat, and when the head goblin looked at him, he stated, "I wish to enter my vaults."

"Your wand?" the goblin asked in a bored tone.

Lucius handed his wand to the goblin, who measured it. After a time, he said, "This is not the wand we have on record."

"My family wand was... destroyed," Lucius replied, a light tint coloring his cheeks.

The goblin glared, but said, "Which of your vaults do you wish to access?"

"The Malfoy, Black, and Lestrange vault," he said, tilting his chin. "I trust that won't be a problem?"

"Of course not, sir." He eyed Severus warily. "Your companion?"

"Will be joining me, but I understand he is not able to enter the vaults, except, of course the Malfoy vault, as it is strictly my own."

The goblin nodded, seeming to decide he didn't care one way or another so long as the rules were adhered to. He waved for another goblin to escort them.

They climbed into the rail car and began their journey down to the lowest levels of the bank. It struck Severus that he hadn't been down that deep into the vaults. He'd never bothered accessing the Prince vaults, since his mother was still alive and any inheritance his grandmother had left him was transferred to his own vaults. He didn't need the Dark Lord to know what he had access to.

As the Thief's Downfall came upon them, he saw Lucius grimace. Severus braced himself, closing his eyes and trying not to hold his breath as they were doused in the liquid, and once they passed, promptly dried himself off. Lucius did the same, his Glamour having been removed. He didn't seem to care.

"Which vault will we be visiting first?" Lucius asked their escort.

"The Black vault is first," came the reply, and they continued their rickety journey.

Severus stepped out of the car with the others when they arrived at the correct platform. He merely stood, waiting, watching as Lucius disappeared into the vault. He didn't take long, and if he removed anything, it was a mystery that he had no care to solve. They reentered the cart and traveled deeper into the cavern.

"The Lestrange vault is next, I assume," Lucius hedged.

"Yes," the goblin said simply.

Severus eyed him, wondering whether or not he could be trusted. Still, he wouldn't do anything until after they left.

They pulled up to the next platform, and everyone once more disembarked. The goblin opened the Lestrange vault and Lucius slipped in. He took longer this time, an irritatingly long time. Severus withdrew his pocket watch, checking the time, sighing. There was a clatter from inside the vault, cursing, and then a strange continuous rattle of metal hitting the floor. Lucius darted out and the goblin quickly closed the door.

"Crazy bitch placed a bloody Gemino curse in there," Lucius explained as he smoothed out his hair.

"How in Merlin's name is that beneficial?" Severus asked as they moved down the platform to the Malfoy vault.

"I suppose if someone didn't know, they would end up being crushed beneath the weight of it all. It only activated as something hit the ground, and I wouldn't put it past the insane ... witch to have purposely placed the bloody plate I toppled over precariously on purpose."

"Perhaps that was how she hoped to be rid of her husband." Severus smirked, and Lucius did the same as they waited for the goblin to open the Malfoy vault.

"We will not want or need an escort, do you understand," Lucius sneered at the goblin. "You accompanied me in the vaults where I was merely a caretaker, this is my property."

The goblin gave him a malicious grin. "As you wish," he said, waving Lucius inside.

They stepped inside and Lucius' face visibly fell at the sight of the vault. It was virtually empty, with only about a dozen medium bags of coins and a couple of family paintings. There were a couple pieces of antique furniture that probably didn't have a resale value with the Malfoy family crest engraved on the edging, but in every other way, Severus had never seen such an empty vault.

"I was rich," Lucius sputtered. "I was one of the wealthiest wizards... the Lestranges have not suffered as I have, not like this. How can I ever... there is nothing for Draco. Nothing." And then the heartbreak turned into cold fury. "I have been used. I was punished by being forced to languish in Azkaban. I was punished by losing my family and giving up my home. But my money, my wealth, should not have been squandered to such a degree!" He turned to Severus, taking something out of his robes, his pockets obviously expanded. "Take this, do whatever it is you plan to do with it. If it brings the fall of a man who abuses his loyal followers, who takes everything from them, all the better. Mudbloods and blood traitors be damned."

Severus took the cup, something clearly not as dangerous as the ring since Lucius was handling it without protection. He could sense the darkness coming off it and put it in the innermost pockets of his own robes with great apprehension. He suppressed a shudder at the feel of having something so evil so near his heart, but in front of Lucius, he appeared impassive.