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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
- 37
- 38
- 39
A/N.
**BlueSchmoo rubs her hands together with an evil glint in her eye�..** **hee hee hee�**

I am glad to hear the last chappie was a bit of a surprise to most of you. I must admit � I was getting a bit complacent and too mushy � I needed to insert a bit of ugliness there (my apologies if it grossed anyone out). On with the show�
P.S. Thanks to Brian for the review�

Chapter 38. Battle of the Wits

Sasha came to with a feeling of deep unease. Something was definitely wrong. There was an incredible pain in her right side, as if she had been stabbed. Was still being stabbed, in fact. However, daylight flooded the room, and the pain in the side of her face was gone. Hesitantly, she raised her hands, and was surprised to find them unrestrained. She was able to lift her head, and sit up. Cautiously, she reached up with one hand and felt her face. She was relieved to find the bandages still there, snugly tied off on top of her head. Looking around, she saw no sign of Lucius Malfoy, much to her great relief. Her mind continued to clear as she glanced around the room.
Reaching down below her robes, she felt along her side, where there was still an intense, jabbing pain. With an angry yell of frustration, she pulled out her wand and threw it across the room. She must have fallen asleep, and it had somehow dislodged, and ended up stabbing her in the side. She sat there a moment, collecting her wits, but angry at herself. It had been a dream � a nasty, painful, hurtful dream, where all of her worst fears had surfaced. Lucius had found her, the potion had failed, and she was silenced and restrained, just waiting to be subjected to his disgusting whims.
With determination, she pushed herself up off the bed, and padded out to the washroom. She was really not too sure how long she had dozed off, but she did not care. She wanted to know if the potion had worked or not. She walked forward to stand in front of the large mirror, and slowly, reached up to untie the bandage. Throwing it away from her, she delicately started to peel back the gauze. There were small clots of blood and skin on them she noted with disgust, and she tried not to look. Flashes of her nightmare came back to her; visions of charred, blackened flesh�
As the last of the gauze fell away, she steeled herself to turn sideways, bringup hup her eyes to stare at the reflection of her face in the mirror.
With an anguished cry, she fell heavily to her knees, holding onto the edge of the sink for support. She did not feel the impact of her knees against the cold, hard floor in her shock. Unbidden, tears started to run down her face.
"Oh God, oh God, oh God�."
**
For the second time that day, Snape heard someone scratching at his office door, begging entry.
"Enter," he called out, pitching his voice to sound both bored and severely imposed upon. The door was opened by a small, dirty house elf, and Snape assumed it was Lucius�s new servant, after having lost Dobby. Limping in, the elf bowed low, almost scraping its long nose on the ground, and announced his master. Snape was not surprised when Lucius entered, an air of superiority wrapped around him tightly as a cloak. As the blond wizard walked through the entryway, Snape heard a whump, and saw the elf scuttle sideways, painfully rubbing its backside with a dirty hand. The elf silently closed the door and sat down beside it, his eyes obediently directed towards the ground.
Snape rose from the couch and the two Death Eaters regarded each other coldly. The silence lay heavily between them, each waiting for the other to make the first move in this charade.
"Lucius," Snape said graciously, indicating the couch with a slight gesture of his hand. Smiling, Lucius absently removed his gloves and sat himself down, resting one hand loosely on the ivory tip of his walking stick.
"So, Severus, did you enjoy your evening last night," he asked innocently, a bemused smile pulling at the corner of his lips.
In response, Snape glared at the wizard. "You could say it was... eventful," he replied coldly.
"Eventful!" Lucius laughed, enjoying himself. "Come Severus, I know you can do better then that," he chided. "Were you surprised to find out that I could, with very little effort on my part, so easily intrude into your life, and take what you hold most dearly?"
"Nothing about you surprises me, Lucius. You take what you like, regardless of the rules."
"Tsk, tsk. You didn�t answer my question, Severus. I am dying to find out - did you learn anything from Avery�s little show? Did you realize how easily you can be manipulated?" he asked, the evil glint revealing his true intentions behind asking the question. He wanted to hear about Snape�s pain; confirmation that he had found the chink in his armour.
Snape wrestled with himself to control his temper in front of the other Death Eater. "Learn anything?" he repeated, leaning forward on the couch menacingly. "And what could you teach me that I have not learned from previous experience? No, I did not learn anything new," Snape snapped, sitting back and eyeing Lucius dangerously.
"Oh really? I think you are hiding something, Severus. I think you care more for that little bit of crumpet than you let on."
"Indeed?" Snape replied incredulously. It was now time to start playing with Malfoy�s mind, Snape thought. He knew the other Death Eater�s memory of the evening would be non-existent, or hazy at best, so there would be no way he could confirm or deny what Snape was about to say. Half-truths were the best way of keeping Lucius unbalanced and unsure.
"First of all, do you really think if she meant that much to me, that I would leave her alone for the evening, knowing that she would be an easy target to be selected as an unfortunate? Come on, Lucius, if you really wanted the girl, I would have brought her along as my date and saved you the trouble of coming to fetch her."
"Secondly, think about it, Lucius. Did you have to force her to go with you, or did she go rather willingly? If I really did care for her, I would have warned her, or arranged for her to stay safely with Dumbledore for the evening, don�t you think? Even you must understand that if I had warned her, there would be no way she would willingly subject herself to such treatment, knowing there was a good chance she would not survive the night."
Snape smiled to himself as he saw Lucius struggle with the truth of the information he was providing. Obviously he was trying to remember exactly what had happened that night, but he was not about to admit that to Snape. "And finally, as I recall, she was the one who maintained her composure rather well throughout the evening, all things considered. Don�t you agree? It was you, Lucius, who was making such as fuss over your little stunt." Snape�s words rang true, but Lucius would never appreciate the irony in what he was saying.
At Lucius�s frown of incomprehension, Snape felt a twinge of satisfaction at hitting a nerve. "What is wrong, Lucius, don�t you remember?" he taunted. "You can ask Avery his opinion of how the evening went. It was the usual slice and dice night out, minus the sex acts. Nothing more, nothing less. There was certainly enough blood spilled." Snape sneered his disinterest in the topic, letting Malfoy know his lack of interest.
By this time, Lucius had realized that something was very wrong. Was it possible he had overestimated Snape�s interest in the girl? Had he stuck his neck out, arranging to keep the floo network open, and travelling to Hogwarts to fetch her, for nothing? It definitely appeared that Snape was not bothered by what had happened the previous night, much to his disappointment. Realizing he was not about to get the satisfaction of seeing Snape grovel for the future safely of his little crumpet, made Lucius furious. It also bothered him why he could not remember most of the events of the evening, and that was the most frustrating part.
Lucius barred his teeth in frustration, realizing he was not about to get what he wanted.
"Where is she?" he demanded, half-pushing himself out of the leather couch in his anger. "If this is some sort of a trick, Snape, so help me..."
"Elf!" he hissed, looking over his shoulder at the huddled house elf near the doorway. "Fetch me the Ravenclaw girl." When the elf did not move immediately, Lucius exploded. "Now!" he yelled, spittle flying out of his mouth as he screamed profanities at the cowering creature. With a frightened snap of his fingers, the house elf disappeared, the blue of his eyes fading last.
Lucius sat himself back down onto the couch, and stared hostilely as Snape, his immediate anger spent. Snape silently cursed to himself. He had wanted to keep Sasha away from this meeting, as she had no idea what Snape was doing, or what mind games he was playing with Lucius. Also, Snape was gambling on the fact that the potion they applied this morning was going to work. Lucius was expecting to see her as she would appear after having her scar cut out during the Dark Revel, then magically healed right afterwards. For the most part, there should be no scar left. If the potion did not work, and the puckered tissues were still clearly present on her face, then Lucius would know that something was definitely wrong. There was nothing he could do now except play out this charade as best as he could.
"I need to see her with my own eyes, Snape," Lucius said, an unpleasant sneer on his face. "I want to make sure you did not play some sort of trick on me." He sat back down, and the two men waiting in the uneasy silence, eyeing each other.
Minutes later there was the same hesitant scratching sound on the office door as he heard earlier. Snape�s heart leapt in his chest, at the unexpected noise. He calmed himself, but Lucius never noticed. As the door swung open, both men stood. The elf limped in, his head down and his hands worrying each other. Right behind him was Sasha, and she slowly entered to room.
There was a stunned silence, and Lucius whipped his blond head around to glare at Snape.
Snape could not help himself. He stared at her. It was her face. There was a faint ghost of a scar that was just barely visible across the bottom of her left cheek. The rest of her face was smooth, a reflection of the right hand side of her face.
Unbidden, the words that he had spoke to Sasha, some weeks ago came back to haunt him. He had made reference to the fact that she was not physically attractive, and that there were many other girls who attended Hogwarts that were much prettier than she was. Maybe it was the fact that he had managed to look past her physical marring, that he never really noticed her features anymore. The contrast between how he was used to seeing her, and how she looked now without the damage to her face, was unbelievable. She was lovely. Snape felt his chest tighten at the sight of her.
As much as he wanted to reach out to her right then and there, and touch her, caress her face, Snape knew he could not. They were still actors in a very dangerous game that had to be played out. Besides, Lucius was watching him too carefully. As much as it killed him, he maintained his bored, sullen manner. He hopes Sasha would follow his lead.
"There, Lucius. Are you satisfied?" he snapped, holding out his hand in Sasha�s direction.
Lucius turned around, and saw the look of fear in her. She took a step back from him, and she had begun to tremble with unease. Over Lucius�s shoulder, Snape stared intently at Sasha, motioning to her with a narrowing of his eyes and a shake of his head. He thought he saw a very slight nod of acknowledgement, but it could have been just her movements when she stepped back.
"What� what do you want?" she asked hesitantly looking up at Snape. "I was told by the elf that my presence was required." She looked quickly between Lucius and Snape, unsure of what to do.
"My dear," Lucius replied, his voice dripping with graciousness and honey. "What happened to your face? I believe you used to be, how shall I put this, marked, before?" He was staring so intensely at Sasha, that she could no longer control her nervousness.
Snape waited. He could not respond for her, as it would be too obvious to Lucius that he was guiding the girl. He continued to stare at her, willing her to say the truth.
Sasha felt nauseous. She and Snape had not agreed ahead of time on what to say in just this instance, so she was completely on her own. Did she mention anything about the Dark Revel? Snape�s potion? How much of her memory was she supposed to have? All of it, or just part of it? What was the appropriate answer�
"It was Professor Snape," she replied quietly, subserviently, as any typical student terrified of the menacing Potions Master would respond. "He made a potion for me that would remove it. Or most of it," she said, looking to Snape for support.
He said nothing, but stood there, a cold and distasteful sneer across his handsome features. He appeared bored with the whole topic. Sasha had no idea if what she just said was right or not.
Lucius turned to stare at Snape, his pale eyes boring into two dark, depthless ones. "Really?"
Snape returned the stare unblinkingly. "Yes, really. How else would you explain having a disfiguring scar one day, and then waking up the next with it healed? The only other alternative to healing a magical scar of such extent would be to physically cut it out with a scalpel, then heal the wound in the usual manner. And I highly doubt Miss Rowan would willingly agree to such, extreme measures," Snape said pointedly to Lucius.
The two wizards stared at each other for the longest time before Lucius began to smile. He believed that the "potion" was just an excuse Snape had used on Sasha to explain what had happened at the Dark Revel. So. It really had happened then � the torture of the girl at the Dark Revel. It was just that he could just not remember all of the events. Even Avery supported what Snape had just described. With just a twinge of doubt still lurking in his mind, Lucius realized Snape really was not hiding anything from him.
"Clever, Severus, very clever," he said, turning to gather up his gloves and walking stick.
"Well. Now that I have wasted enough of my time in this pathetic excuse of a sitting room�" Lucius let the snub hang in the air at the lack of proper receiving rooms Snape had at Hogwarts, and strode towards the door.
Sasha stepped well back away from the doorway, not wanting any part of the blond man to touch h
"Lucius," Snape called out, halting the man in his tracks. "One last question. How is your throat today?" he taunted, getting in one last jab at the Death Eater.
Lucius barred his teeth in his anger at the question. He had no idea what the referenas tas to, but he could not admit that to Snape. Not now.
"Do not think for one minute that this is the end of things," he sneered, the unsaid threat obvious in his eyes. He walked out in a swirl of robes, the sad little house elf limping along after his master.
Both Snape and Sasha did not move, but waited and listened to the sound of Lucius�s footsteps as they faded into the castle. Slowly, she walked forward again, into the light of the office, and for the first time in a long time, she raised her head proudly, not caring that her hair was not covering her shameful disfigurement.
Snape just stood there as she began to walk towards him�
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Eye of the Beholder