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A Matter of Time	By : AdaraB Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 7796 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything in the Harry Potter universe. I own nothing and I make no profit off of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 34 – Death Threat

“So it’s been over a week. Are you ever going to tell me what happened at that meeting?”

Ashleigh and Severus were in the middle of brewing a complex potion that required the casting of three spells during the brewing. They were at the midpoint where she had to stir the potion counter clockwise for the next ten minutes. She’d decided that this was as good a time as any to ask him the question that had been burning inside her.

“I was merely waiting to see how long you could hold out before asking.” Severus replied with a smirk.

“Ass.”

Severus just smiled.

“The Dark Lord was not pleased at your absence.”

“Well duh, you mind elaborating?” Ashleigh asked with a roll of her eyes.

“He used the Cruciatus on three of his followers he was so incensed. He also put out a fifty thousand galleon price on your head. He wants you alive of course and he is positive that you are staying either in the castle or with Potter. He is falsely assuming you are with Potter because of your family ties, that and the fact that his house is so protected. If you were at the castle and Dumbledore were to leave…It would be simple enough for him to gain access.”

Ashleigh took a moment to let this new information sink in.

“A price on my head huh? I always thought he was more of a Hitler and less of a mob boss.”

“You could say he goes both ways.” Severus said with an almost lurid smile.

“That’s disgusting! I didn’t need to know that much. You’ve got to keep that kind of nastiness to yourself from now on. Ugh, you’re going to give me nightmares!” Shuddering, Ashleigh moved on to the next step of the potion.

Severus just laughed at her discomfort.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Severus, do you think the Dark Lord will try to trick Harry like he did back in fifth year. You know, using their connection to make him see things that aren’t true so that he’ll act irrationally and come to find him?” Ashleigh asked worriedly.

They had sat down to supper only fifteen minutes ago and had just tucked in to their main course.

Severus thought for a moment before answering her question.

“I do not think he will use that method again. It worked the first time only because Potter was desperate enough to not listen to Miss Granger. However, Potter is not so dense that he would make the same mistake twice and the Dark Lord knows it. He will use a completely different way to draw the two of you out of hiding although, unfortunately, I have no idea what that is as of yet.”

There was a moment of silence before Severus broke it with a question.

“How is Potter doing with the manipulation of the Avada Kadavra?”

“Not very well; as you know performing it on required people and animals hasn’t worked at all. He’s tried it on small animals but that hasn’t worked because their brains are different than a humans. I’m really afraid that he’ll go into this fight blind. We may not ever know if it will work. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens and try to find other solutions.”

“I assume Miss Granger is doing more research?”

Severus had barely finished his question when the floo flared and Draco stepped out of the hearth looking quite angry. Angrier than he had any right, Ashleigh thought.

“Why have you sent them all back? I try to apologize for what I’ve said and you won’t let me!” Draco roared.

Ashleigh and Severus just sat there calmly and stared at him for a moment.

“Perhaps we should take this upstairs Draco.”

“No. Right here will do just fine! Why haven’t you accepted my apology?” He insisted.

“I don’t recall receiving an apology Draco. I remember receiving gifts. Are you trying to buy my forgiveness?” She asked, her eyes narrowing in anger. “I’m pretty sure we’ve already crossed this bridge once before. I don’t want things.”

“Then what do you want?”

“You figure it out.” Ashleigh yelled at him before sliding her chair out roughly only to run up the stairs to her room.

Draco watched her leave with his mouth hanging open. After hearing her bedroom door slam shut he turned back to Severus.

“How in Hell am I supposed to know what she wants?” Draco said in a huff as he took Ashleigh’s vacated seat.

“Perhaps you should open your ears.” Severus replied in a bored tone.

“What?”

“She’s already told you what she wants from you very plainly. You however, just kept going on about gifts that she rejected.”

Draco thought about their argument for a few moments before realizing that Severus was right, she had all but spelled it out for him.

“Seriously? All she really wants is a verbal apology? Why didn’t she just say so?”

“I believe she did.”

“Right. How did you get her to forgive you so easily?”

“I apologized right after you left. Our relationship has been fine ever since. Better in fact. We now know a little more about each other than we did before. It was a very helpful learning experience.”

Draco groaned at Severus’ admission. He’d royally fucked up. This was one of those tests that his father was always going on about. The ones that will decide if your relationship will have the foundations to stand the test of time and right now, their relationship could be blown away with a strong wind.

Sighing, Draco turned and trudged up the stairs prepared to eat his words. He knocked on Ashleigh’s door to no avail. She wouldn’t even answer him. Sighing, he called out to her. Once again no answer came. Deciding to risk his dangly bits, he knew she was about to hex them off, he turned the knob and opened the door only to find that she was not in her room. Quickly he checked the bathroom and the annex only to find them both empty. He was coming down the ladder out of the annex when he heard the alarm. Death Eaters! Quickly he ran to the only window in Ashleigh’s room hoping beyond hope she hadn’t gone outside.

He got to the window just in time to see Ashleigh being taken by two Death Eaters. Once they had her in their clutches they apparated away leaving Draco in a silent scream.

Snapping himself out of it Draco yelled for Severus who met him at the bottom of the stairs.

“They have her! Didn’t you tell her where the wards ended? She was just outside of them! An inch was all that separated her from it!” Draco screamed.

“Calm yourself. Yelling won’t do any good right now. And of course I told her. She must have mistaken a step and went out of the wards in her distraught state. She’s been going out to the front garden to think a lot this past week.” Severus said in a strong voice.

“The Dark Lord will no doubt call upon me to question me as to what exactly she was doing at my home.”

Just as he finished his statement, his Dark Mark flared with pain.

“You may stay here if you like Draco but I warn you, do NOT try to save her. She will be fine. He may torture her because she refused his offer but he will not kill her. She is too valuable to him. Remember that.” Severus told him before he turned and left the house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Severus, how nice of you to join us! I have some good news. Miss Grey has been found and is now under my care.” The Dark Lord said as Severus kneeled in front of him.

“That is wonderful news my Lord. I know you have sought her out for many months now.” Severus said as he stood up to look into the Dark Lords eyes.

“Yes I have. My question to you Severus is WHY did my followers find her outside of your house?”

Severus could tell the Dark Lord was not happy with him. If he didn’t tread carefully he would be feeling the Crutiatus very soon.

“I do not know why she would seek me out. I can only assume that it was about the fight she had with Draco. He came to me for advice earlier today. I became fond of Miss Grey as she was an exemplary potions student. She often sought me out at Hogwarts for advice on different matters. I assume she thought to do the same in this instance since I am Draco’s godfather.”

Severus was waiting for the Dark Lord to enter his mind. After several minutes Severus was surprised when the Dark Lord spoke instead.

“She was quite distraught when they picked her up. I believe Draco means a great deal to her. It would be a good match and Draco is after all, the son of one of my most loyal followers.”

Severus did not speak. The Dark Lord was merely speaking his thoughts; he would not hesitate to torture the person who interrupted him.

While the Dark Lord pondered, Severus noticed a bristling on the right of the room. One of his followers, Zabini he assumed, couldn’t seem to stand still in their Lord’s presence. He probably wasn’t happy that the Dark Lord seemed to be going back on his promise.

“Zabini, come.”

The figure that Severus saw fidgeting on the right scurried over and knelt.

“My Lord.”

“Is there something other than Miss Grey that you would like for your loyalty?”

“No my Lord. She has been all I’ve wanted.”

The Dark Lord was silent for a moment before he spoke again.

“Then you may have her…once. She will then be given back to Draco; I believe their match will be of great use to me.”

“But my Lord-“

“Crucio!”

The Dark Lord held the curse for a full minute before he lifted it.

“Have I not kept my promise of letting you have the girl? I do believe that I never specified how long you may have her. At this point you should be thankful that I’m letting you have her at all. Now, follow the hall to the left. She is waiting for you in the last room on the left. You have two hours starting now.

“Thank you my Lord.” Blaise responded as he pulled himself off the floor.

As Blaise made his way to Ashleigh, the Dark Lord turned to Severus.

“Return to me in two hours. We shall further discuss Miss Grey at that time.”

“Yes my Lord.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first place Severus apparated to was Hogwarts. Albus needed to know the events of the day. They had less than two hours to come up with a suitable plan as to how to get Ashleigh away from the Dark Lord before he marked her. Their best hope for the girl if they were unsuccessful would be the Dark Lord denying her the mark for angering him. If that did come to pass however, he didn’t care to think of what he would do to the girl.

Once Severus was inside the gates he immediately sent his Patronis with a message to Albus, telling him to meet in the Entrance Hall.

Severus quickened his steps to keep pace up the hill and then all but ran into the castle. As he entered the Entrance Hall he saw Albus as well as Draco standing by the stairs awaiting him.

“Draco has enlightened me as to the situation with Ashleigh. I’ve called an Order meeting; the others should be here shortly. Shall we reconvene in my office to discuss further options?”

Severus nodded and followed Albus followed by Draco. Once they were seated Albus asked Severus to elaborate on the situation.

“The Dark Lord has her locked in a room in the Zabini mansion. He has just recently taken up residence there. For now she is safe, however, he has given Blaise permission to have her for two hours.” Severus eyed Draco as he gave this bit of information. He was surprised when the boy didn’t blow up. The only sign that he gave to indicate he was angry were his hands tightening into fists.

“He intends to give her back to Draco. He believes they will make a suitable match that will be in favor of him.”

At this new admission Draco let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“We have to get her back! We have to get her back now!” Draco insisted but didn’t move from his seat.

“That would not be advisable at the present time. The Dark Lord would know there is a rat in his circle and he would know it is I who is the rat. We must wait a few days so that the Order can figure out where the Dark Lord is hiding out…‘on their own’.”

Draco took in an exaggerated breath and held it for a moment before letting it out slowly before nodding in agreement.

A knock at the door alerted the trio to the presence of the order. Once everyone had come in and made themselves comfortable the questions began. The three answered the onslaught of questions to the best of their knowledge. The last question, which was hardest to answer for Draco, came from Harry.

“What was she doing outside of the wards?”

Draco couldn’t bring himself to look at Harry when he answered.

“She was angry at me and went outside to think. She overstepped the boundary by accident.”

“Can I speak to you outside Draco?”

Finally looking up at Harry, he knew that if they weren’t friends that Harry would AK him on the spot.

Once they were out of the office and away from eager ears Harry turned on Draco.

“YOU SAID YOU WOULD PROTECT HER! YOU SAID YOU WOULD NEVER HURT HER! YOU SAID YOU WOULD DIE BEFORE YOU LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO HER!” Harry yelled at Draco who cringed away from him.

Harry was heaving in his anger as he tried to catch his breath.

“I know about the fight. How you could possibly believe that that would be the best way to apologize is beyond me. But know this, if she is…hurt, there will be no where on this Earth that you can hide.”

Harry left Draco stunned in the corridor. He’d just been given a death threat from his friend. From The Boy Who Lived. And he was scared.
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A Matter of Time