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Eye of the Beholder	By : BlueSchmoo Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 3725 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 30. The Point of No Return
From her favourite alcove in the Ravenclaw tower, Sasha watched Snape as he left the front entrance of Hogwarts and walked towards the waiting carriage. He paused briefly, looking up in her direction before entering it. She raised her hand slightly in a small gesture of good-bye, but he did not see her in the darkened shadows of tindoindow. She watched the carriage lurch forward as the invisible Thestrals started off. With Snape now gone, she felt absolutely alone. The first real stirrings of fear began in the pit of her stomach. Fear for both Snape and herself. She knew he would come for her tonight. She counted on it.
Sasha sighed, and headed back to her room. She did not know what to do with herself for the next while, so she gathered up a towel to go take a shower. She wanted to feel the warm, clean water on her skin one last time. Once finished, she dried herself off, dressed in a clean black robe, then slowly brushed out her hair. She completed her grooming as if on auto-pilot. Feelingly strangely numb, excited and terrified all at the same time, she stood, and regarded herself in the mirror. She saw her fear reflected in her image in the mirror, so she tried harder to calm her nerves.
She recognized that there would be one outcome to this evening. By morning, either she would be back here with Snape, and they could continue to work on sorting out their relationship, or, she would be dead. That simple. She knew there was a greater probability of the latter happening, but she had come to accept that fact last night. She was starting to feel the fear creep up on her again, which in some ways was better than feeling numb.
When they were talking late last night, Sasha realized that Snape had reached a point in their relationship where he honestly did care more for her than for himself. This made her very, very frightened for his safety, especially given the dire consequences of him blowing his cover. If Lucius did come for her tonight as they expected, then she could not let Snape do anything heroic that would lead to him being discovered. It would not heim, im, or Dumbledore, or their cause. As much as Snape cared for her, she could not let that happen. That is why she had a plan.
She shivered violently at the thought of what she intended to do this evening. There was very little chance it would go exactly as planned, and so many things could go wrong. There were too many variables, the least of which were Snape�s potions. That was the key to everything, the potions for the Dark Revel. However, she had to at least try.
Reaching out for her chest, she lifted the lid, and removed the lab notebook Snape had given her. She stood looking down at the small lock of Lucius�s hair, shining brightly in the dim chest. It called to her, taunting her. Hesitantly, she reached out and picked it up. She stared at it for a long moment, before placing it between the first two pages of her diary. With a deep breath she firmly closed the book, and straightened. If something went wrong, Snape would find the hairs in there and realize what the meant.
She turned, and descended the stairs. She paused briefly, taking one last look around the Ravenclaw common room. She had no idea if she would live out the night, let alone ever see this place again. She swallowed her fear, and determined, she walked out of the safety of the room, heading for the dungeon.
***
She sat quietly at her potions table, writing in her lab notebook. Since only she and Snape would be able to open and read it without the venomous fangs striking, she thought it would be safe to leave a written entry of what she planned to do, in case something went awry. She hoped Snape would open it and read it in the event that something happened to her. She wanted to make sure he would find the platinum strands of Lucius�s hair.
She sensed, more than heard, someone enter the room. She felt the hairs raise straight up on the back of her neck, and realized it was time. She knew he would come for her. She had expected it, and planned for it. Sasha calmly finished off her sentence, and slowly closed the book, latching the two clasping snakes into place.
She was ready for him.
He gazed at her intensely, taking in her calm demeanour. His eyes narrowed in irritation. It irked him that she was not taken back by his sudden appearance there tonight, especially since Snape would not be there to defend her. He was probably just arriving at the Malfoy Manor at this very moment, Lucius thought.
"Well my dear, you don�t seem too surprised to see me," he said rather accusingly. Lucius walked forward until he was standing uncomfortably close, forcing her to respond to him.
Sasha flashed him a weak smile. Be calm, she thought. Just follow your plan and you will be OK. Let him have his way until you get to the Malfoy Manor. You will have to take him by surprise if you want to get his wand away from him. That was the key � getting his wand. Until then, she thought, play passive, and don�t give into his taunts.
She stared back at Lucius with an inner calmness that bothered him. She should have been quaking in fear at his approach. He frowned at her, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I knew you would come for me tonight," she said quietly. "Snape thought he would be able to protect me, but I knew you would somehow find me, regardless of where I was. I assume you are here to take me to the Dark Revel tonight?" she asked in that maddeningly calm tone. It was bloody irritating Lucius, her lack ofr. Hr. He was not getting the satisfaction of hearing her beg and plead not to be taken away, as almost all of the unfortunates did.
He tried a different approach. He forced a smile to his face, suggesting a friendliness that his voice betrayed.
"Come now, you must have known I could not pass up such an obvious opportunity to get back at Snape," he said persuasively. "Besides, I think you and I still have some unfinished business that must be attended to," he said coldly, his tone clipped. He brought the ivory tip of his silver cane up, and ran it through her loose hair in a mocking caress. He watched in pleasure as a shiver of repulsion ran down her spine, before he continued.
"Now, we are wasting time here. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, Sasha. Your choice. You can come with me now, or I can call Crabbe and Goyle down here and they will escort you. Right now, they are up in the Ravenclaw common room, searching for you. I rather suggest you come with me willingly."
Sasha swallowed nervously. She was losing her composure and genuine fear started to seize her at the realization that Lucius brought others. Could she really still go through with this? Was she really doing this for Snape, or was it her own revenge against Lucius that was motivating her? She wasn�t sure. She swallowed again, involuntarily. Keep it together, Sasha, she thought, you can do this.
Lucius saw her swallow, and felt a margin of satisfaction at the thought that her brave front was starting to crumble.
"OK," she replied quietly, just the hint of fear in her voice. "I will go with you. However, if we are to do this, I want to take Snape�s potion. I don�t want it to hurt," she said pleadingly.
Lucius smiled his condescending, evil smile, allowing his gaze to rake over her, letting her knew what he thought. She is weak, and pathetic. However, after what she would experience tonight, he really did not blame her. If it was one thing Snape could do well, it was brew a potion. And she would definitely need it tonight.
"By all means, my dear," he said with mock generosity. She stood and walked over to Snape�s table. On top of it was a test tube rack holding rows of the tiny silver and green vials containing the potions he had prepared. She reached out and, trying to steady her shaking hands, she closed the tops of the two closest ones. She picked up the dark green and silver vials and brought them over to Lucius, holding them both out to him, as if offering him the choice. He took the silver one and pocketed it. She held onto the green one, tightly.
He looked at her, a sneer of condemnation on his face. "Shall we go? We wouldn�t want to keep Avery waiting now, would we," he said mockingly. Lucius grabbed her firmly by the upper arm, and led her out the door to the fireplace in Snape�s office.
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Eye of the Beholder