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UnBroken	By : OddDoll Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 6172 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Unbroken
By Odd Doll
Chapter 16
Severus slept with his door locked, and he slept well. He awoke disoriented, but after an anxious survey of the room he closed his eyes and allowed himself a lazy doze. Having come to the conclusion, during his analysis the night before, that they had a few days of relative safety, he settled back into his pillows, feeling so comfortable it was almost ridiculous. One by one he went over his injuries. The jaw was sore, and his teeth ached; he would look in the mirror later in the morning to see if they had all grown in. For the first time in months, he had not even a trace of a headache. He touched his fingertips to his left eyebrow, feeling for the tiny ridge where the break had been. The skin slid over flat, smooth bone, although the entire area was tender.
Severus's right hand remained crabbed and stiff where broken bones were never treated. An attempt to open and flex the fingers resulted in a painful cracking. He could use the hand, but had little strength. His ribs and the internal injury were sore but did not have the unbearable, stabbing pain of two days before.
All in all, he decided, the most notable feature of the pain he felt that morning was its absence.
Severus sat up too quickly, his head swam, and he had to lie back against the pillows. After he rested for a few minutes, he tried again, determined to make his own way to the bathroom. He stopped twice to lean against the wall, but he made it there and back again. Upon his return to the bed, he unlocked the door. Let the nurses come, he thought.
When it comes to privacy, and peace and quiet, wizarding hospitals are only a little better than Muggle ones. The nurses came in to give him breakfast, liquids again, to take the remains away, to take his temperature and check his recovery. For all he knew, they were satisfying some atavistic urge to brood over him as if he were a giant egg.
During the solitary hours, Severus forced himself to think about his situation. He didn't want to. That aspect of his psyche died months before in a five by ten closet, and resurrecting it felt like dressing up someone else's dirty clothes. The old Snape planned his actions like a chess champion plans seventeen moves ahead; the possible outcomes -- death, torture, and betrayal -- were no more significant than captured pawns one swept off a chessboard. Now though, plan, action, and consequences all interconnected in a maze of ugly possibilities. He saw among them the choices he had made in his life, the errors he had made, and did not want to travel those paths again. Fate gave him a second chance, and he vowed to do something different with it than he had with the last one. At this point, he had no idea what that meant other than the fact that he never again wanted to be alone.
There was one thing from his old life he yearned for: to return to Hogwarts if he could. Severus had spent many hours working out why he had rescued all those children, exposing his secret life and wrecking his public one. The answer came one day when he longed for a pain potion, one of the new ones created by a former student. He had taught that student, and many others, to a level of excellence that surpassed students of any other school in the world. His methods were harsh, but it still was the one positive thing he had accomplished in his life. And it had nothing to do with You-Know-Who, or Dumbledore, either. Severus wanted that back, but not the rest of it. He brushed aside the nagging thought that in the end he would not have any choice.
The one who would take his choices away knocked on his door in the late afternoon and greeted him with a small, cool smile. She appeared tired, but neatly dressed in a white suit and heels. Her long hair brushed across her shoulders in shiny little cascades as she bent down to place her attaché case on the floor. She wore a bit of make-up today, although in his opinion she didn't need it. He supposed it was part of the businesswoman's armor that she used to look as much in charge as she felt. She held up well over the past few days, but having witnessed her near breakdown in the motel, he knew that, at least sometimes, it was an act.
He fought off a sudden wave of resentment that she had allowed him to live, and greeted her with a formal, "Good afternoon."
"Hi." She pulled up a chair and sat at his side. "You look much better today."
"Thank you. I feel better today."
"Are you comfortable? I mean is there anything you need?" She peered at his face. "A razor, maybe? Toothbrush?"
Severus rubbed his hand over his chin, feeling the stubble there. "They've seen to most of my needs." He slid Malfoy's wand from under his thigh and removed the hair from his face with a charm. "I will need some clothes, eventually."
"What kind do you like?"
"Wizard robes."
"No, Severus, I don't think so. We'll have to hide you in the Muggle world. You'll need to fit in."
"If you insist." He decided it mattered little to him. So much time had passed since he had choices, he'd forgotten how to make them.
They discussed his personal tastes in shoes, socks, and under garments, which made him pale a little, if that was possible. Phoebe wheeled the tray table in front of her and placed her attaché case on it. She extracted two yellow notepads and a pen before setting the case back on the floor. Each of them was covered in neat lettering. Page after page. How many questions could she possibly have?
"I worked all evening on this list of things that need to be done, and questions I have for you."
"We have much to discuss."
Phoebe lifted a pad a few inches, but dropped it. She leaned on the table, hands clasped over the pad. Her frown was easy to read, and Severus wondered which of half-a-dozen possible questions she would ask first. Her choice surprised him.
"What happened with Talinnin?"
He almost laughed. "You've picked a fine moment to start doubting me."
"I don't doubt you. I saw his injuries, and yours. You couldn't possibly have done it. It's just that..." She shrugged. "I just want to know."
He let out an exasperated sigh. Was this some kind of test? Perhaps she was trying to get him to open up to her. Maybe she thought it would be 'therapeutic' to talk about it and chose a seemingly innocuous question to get him started. It didn't really matter.
"I was unconscious a great deal of the time. I really can't tell you what you want to know."
"Did they save your life?"
Now he understood. She thought he was protecting them. "No. I believe that might have been your solicitor friend."
"Really? How?"
"He was working me over when the doorbell rang. That's why I was in that cell and not upstairs. He shoved me in there and I fell unconscious for a while. Later on I heard voices, and I think he made Talinnin let the others go. I can only assume that after the solicitor left they overpowered him and extracted their revenge."
Phoebe's frown grew deeper. "If they were contract slaves, it's possible that they could be tracked down."
"They weren't. Filla had Talinnin pick up bums and street people. Sometimes they would bring in a prostitute for a few days. I got the impression that if they survived Filla paid them to keep their mouths shut. No one remained for long, except the last two, and that was due to Filla's illness. He was too sick to keep Talinnin under control."
"If they survived?"
Severus clenched his jaw and gave her a stony look. There was nothing that could motivate him to dredge up those memories. "Haven't I satisfied your curiosity?"
Phoebe nodded and asked no more. Intelligent woman. Severus coughed. There was still some congestion in his lungs from the infection. It hampered his breathing and his head swam from lack of oxygen.
Phoebe sprang to his side and adjusted his pillows to help him sit up. When he stopped coughing she handed him a glass of water.
"Are you going to be all right? Should I get a nurse?"
"I'm fine. Thank you," he added, almost as an afterthought.
She peered down at one of her pads. "Tell me about Malfoy. Do you think she might follow us here?"
He had given this one a lot of thought. "I don't think Narcissa Malfoy will have a choice. She was very foolish to attack an Ello agent and is probably on the run."
"Is it likely she'll hold a grudge against me?"
"Yes. If there is one thing the Malfoys have in abundance, it's pride." He thought for a second. "And arrogance. And malice."
"Is she dangerous?"
"Very. You have to understand her background. Her family has been practicing Dark Magic for centuries. She can utter an unforgivable without batting an eye, and you will never best her in magical battle. Trust me on this. I've seen her work."
Phoebe bit her lip and looked away, but he knew he could not spare any details.
"What's more, she is probably desperate. I would be very much surprised if the Dark Lord did not punish her severely. She must find me now, and with the Ello after her, she will have little else to do with her time."
"Does she have the resources to follow me here?"
"Absolutely, and to pursue you until the end of time."
"What would she be likely to do?"
"She will want to avoid another incident, and your MBI is probably looking for her as well. My guess is she will watch you for a few days, follow you around hoping to catch sight of me. If that fails, she will probably capture and torture you until you speak or she is convinced you know nothing."
"Couldn't I work with the MBI? They could protect me." The MBI was the American Magical Bureau of Investigation, similar to the Muggle FBI.
"They won't protect you forever, and in the end they'll forget about Malfoy, wanting bigger or fresher targets, and tell you to change your name and move."
Her face reddened and he watched her grow angry. "So, I'm supposed to go into hiding until the war is over? What if Voldemort wins? Would that mean I could never come home?"
"Perhaps. Perhaps you could if you learned to protect yourself, but I doubt it. There's one of you and many of them."
"And then I have to find a place to put you." She looked up and blushed. "I mean, I have to find a place for the both of us."
"I would have preferred to allow you to get on with your life, but I believe you must flee as well."
"If I run, she will know that you are with me."
"If you remain to face her, you will end up having to fight her, and you will lose. And if she doesn't come alone, or if they send other Death Eaters, you would not stand a chance."
He watched her face crumble. The disintegration stopped just short of tears. He wondered if her day spent at her old routines had distanced her from the situation.
"If they have sent a team after you, they will be here very soon, and your only chance is to run.
Phoebe sighed and dropped her head, rubbing her temples in the palms of her hands. "How much time do we have?" she asked without looking up.
"Not long. Maybe the weekend. I want to be out of this hospital by Monday."
"Monday? You've got to be kidding!" She leapt out of the chair and paced about the room. Her voice and body both shook. "I can't do that, Severus. You can't just expect me to walk away from my life. I have a business to run."
"Phoebe, these are no ordinary criminals you're involved with. You need to take this threat very seriously."
"I do, but you don't know for certain that all this will really happen." She ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it straight back from her forehead.
"It will, Phoebe. I'm certain of it."
"But you don't know." She collapsed into the chair. "Severus, you know what it's like to abandon everything you have. How can you ask me to do that?"
"I did not have a choice."
"You did," she insisted. "You could have remained a double agent."
Severus refused to follow this avenue of discussion. "Phoebe, only you can make this decision. The only thing I ask is that if you choose to remain, please find me some place to recuperate. I can take care of myself, but not in this condition."
His words stirred her guilt. He could see it in the way her body stilled and her eyes softened. He had not intended it, but would use any tool available. Phoebe sat silent, staring off into space. Severus, too, remained silent and let her have room to come to terms with the Stun spell he had just blasted at her.
It took several minutes for her to stir and say in a quiet voice, "Give me a day or two to think about this."
"All right."
She picked up her pad but dropped it again. "You look tired."
The argument had tired him, but he didn't want her to leave. "Not really. Is there more you wanted to discuss?"
She shook her head. "I could get something for you to read and come back." Her face brightened at the thought of helping him. "I imagine you're pretty bored."
"I am." It was the reason he wanted her to stay. It made her feel better, so he went along with the suggestion.
She looked out the window into the blackness dotted with city lights. "I'm not sure when the magical bookstore will close. I might have to wait until tomorrow for that. I don't like to go into that part of Chinatown after dark."
"You're familiar with a bad part of town?"
She gave him a coy smile. "Severus, a girl does not grow up to be a dominatrix without being something of a naughty risk-taker." She hefted her purse. "The Muggle bookstore is not too far. I shouldn't be gone long."
When he just shrugged, apathy suddenly descending again, she frowned slightly, watched him for long enough to make him uncomfortable. "Okay. I'll just pick things out for you." As she headed for the door, her smile returned. "I hope you like handicrafts and haute couture."
- 15
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- 17
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UnBroken