Chapter 8: England Side of Things

Been a while, hasn't it? Well, this is the last update because I am not doing this story anymore. It is not worth it. I have other stories I am more interested in doing, and in some cases they have had more feedback. I have also had not enough feedback (positive and construct) for it to be worth while, either. So, this story is up for adoption. I can send you all eight posted chapters plus to unposted, then the vague idea of where it was going, and some of the plot points.

Enjoy.

By request of Narcissa and Lucius, Severus found himself visiting Malfoy Manor every day as the Malfoys had requested of him. After spending all those years in Azkaban, the Lestranges needed help getting back to normal life, and recalling normal ways of living. He was supposed to be helping them out, mainly with just being there to talk to them.

"You know, Narcissa, I would find this a lot more pleasurable if I had something more to do than notice Bellatrix staring at me," Severus commented. He and Narcissa were seated in the living room, with Narcissa grooming Inky: the room was vacant from Lestranges and anyone else living.

For some reason, Narcissa had insisted she was to be the one to groom the dog. Severus never thought Narcissa an animal person, but she loved the canine and spoilt it rotten. Severus scratched his head figuratively and wondered how and why this came to be. Maybe it was a side he just never knew.

"You could brew Potions to take your mind off it," Narcissa suggested. "Or write reports on how you're going to be nicer to the students this year."

"She stares at me then, too," Severus said, shaking his head. "It's not that mind-numbing. Neither is."

"Well, maybe you should talk to her about it," Narcissa said, scratching Inky behind the ears. "Oh, that nice, is it? I found a good spot?" Narcissa commented as the dog leaned into her hand.

"I'm surprised Draco isn't here playing with him," Severus remarked.

"As soon as he got here this morning, he went straight to bed. I will have to have a serious talk with Antony for not letting my boy sleep!" Narcissa said, thumping the table, which caused the other two in the room to jump. "He will probably come and play with him later, though."

"What's the matter, Cissa?" Bellatrix asked as she, Rabastan and Rodolphus came in. Lucius was away at the ministry for work, so it was just the five of them in plus Draco. Pity, because Lucius seemed to keep Bellatrix away, or she didn't stare at Severus then, at any rate.

"My child who came home and went to bed even though it was day time: I will have to go and yell at Antony for not letting him sleep!" Narcissa exclaimed. Inky glowed at the Lestranges, meanwhile, but other than that he ignored them.

Bellatrix looked thoughtful for a moment, then she said fondly, "I can remember a certain sister who used to go to bed after a sleepover when she got home, and it was not Andy. Can you remember her, Cissa?"

"Yes I can," Narcissa said going red, causing everyone to laugh. Though Severus and Rabastan tried the best not to laugh, and after a while, Narcissa joined in. Inky looked at them all oddly, seemingly wondering what they were laughing at.

Right then, Dobby came in, carrying a letter. "Master Severus, sir, this letter came for you, sir. Dobby brought it to you after an angry owl let Dobby take it," Dobby said, walking over to Severus carrying the letter.

When he got to Severus, he held the letter up as if it was a sacred offering. "Thank you, Dobby," Severus nodded, taking it. He kept a straight face, but he found the house-elf's antics amusing.

"Master is most welcome," Dobby said. Then he popped off.

"House-elves are weird, aren't they? I mean, what do you call something that calls everyone master? If I was an elf, I would want as few masters as I could get away with," Rodolphus questioned.

"Oh? I didn't know you had a secret desire to be a house-elf, Rodolphus dear. I'm sure Rabastan could turn you into one, he is good at human transfiguration," Bellatrix said in a sickly sweet way. This time it was Rodolphus' turn to go bright red with the others laughing. He joined in much sooner then Narcissa did, but this time no one tried not to laugh. Inky must have found it funny too because he started barking it a way that almost sounded like laughing.

"Anyway, who's the letter from?" Rodolphus asked.

Severus finally looked down at the letter to see the handwriting was very carefree. It reminded him of Mia's, but he knew it was not from Mia. "I'm not sure," Severus said, more to himself than anyone else.

"Come on! Come on! Don't leave us in suspense!" Rabastan urged.

"Too bad: it is a private letter," Severus said, rolling his eyes. Then he sighed. "Give me a second," Severus said, reading it. He didn't care if they knew what was in it and who it was from, but since they had been so pushy he was teasing them a bit as punishment.

'To Mr Severus Snape,

While we have not met personally, I at least know a lot about you. I am Sylvia Greengrove, and I believe you met my husband, Rowley. As you most likely know, our daughters are best friends, and they're almost like sisters.

Anyway, to get to the point so I can send this letter without it being noticed, (as part of the cut-off with England, we are not supposed to send you guys letters.)

Mia had another personality switch and is now in hospital recovering from a mild case of a deadly disease. My daughter, Cynthia, got bitten by a Blue Ring Octopus, and because Mia is not completely sound in the head and felt guilty about the event, she tried something to help her. Both are going to recover though, and last time I saw her, she was talking with Cynthia and they were discussing their hospital movie night with Aurora: all their friends will come.

If you are wanting to come over, keep in mind the portkeys going in and out of this country have been cancelled. However, you should be able to get it if you can translate and unscramble the Rune passage I have added to the bottom. Don't tell anyone you don't trust to keep it a secret, as we both could and would get into trouble, and I at least would most likely lose my job.

Also, it happened because a needle hadn't been pushed into the bin properly, but we are investigating why it happened and will be sure it does not happen again in the future. The nurse or healer who did not empty the bin when it was overflowing will be reviewed and he or she may lose their job.

Regards, Sylvia Greengrove.'

Below was a jumble of rune letters, that at first glance looked like a mess. But that was not the first thing on Severus' mind, as he exclaimed, "WHAT?!"

"Ruff?" Inky said, looking at Severus while tilting his head.

"What's the matter?" Rolodphus asked. Everyone else was looking at Severus curiously, though in Bellatrix's case she was looking at him a little concerned. Did she somehow know it was about or related to Mia? If so, Severus cursed her for being psychic.

"Mia: she got sick from a needle in a hospital not disposed of properly. A staff member had not emptied the bin yet, and it was a bit full," Severus said, shaking his head.

"WHAT!" Bellatrix exclaimed. She pounced Severus to get the letter. Severus had to move quickly to hide it, not knowing what she'd do with it, or what she'd do if she read it.

"Are you going to go and see her?" Narcissa asked.

"Not until I get this Runes jumble sorted out," Severus said. "But yes, I will when I can."

"Why can't you get a portkey straight there?" Rabastan asked.

"Where we going?" Draco asked as he came in.

"Apparently, there has been an international Portkey scare there, and none are allowed out. They also don't like England at the moment, too," Severus said calmly. Then he asked Rodolphus, "You were good at Ancient Runes, weren't you?" He nodded. "Good, you can help with this?"

"I was studying for a mastery when I got arrested. But yes, sure," Rodolphus nodded. "Why don't we go to that table over there? It's a bit private."

The two went over to a table in the corner and poured over the paper. Severus called Dobby and asked him to go and get some books to help them.

"What's going on, mother?" Draco asked, going over to his mother. "DOG!" he exclaimed, seeing Inky. Then he flew at him and hugged him. Inky tensed up, but after a second he relaxed into Draco's embrace.

"We are just talking about your cousin who will be stuck in Australia because she is sick," Narcissa explained.

"Oh. Can we visit her? I wanna go and see kangaroos!" Draco asked, letting go of Inky.

"When uncle Rodolphus and uncle Severus work out the Rune code," Narcissa said gently.

"I'm going too!" Bellatrix cried, acting like a five-year-old. Draco stared at her, not used to adults acting like that.

"Bella! Act your age! But first thing's first, you will have to work out a disguise if your going," Narcissa said raising her voice. By this stage, Draco and Inky had left, playing a game where Draco chased Inky and then Draco gets chased.

While the Lestranges didn't seem too badly affected by their stay in Azkaban at first glance, it was times like this it showed. Acting immature and out of character: while even adults could act immature, Bellatrix had never behaved like that before.

Other things were bad table manners: Narcissa and Lucius were apparently, having trouble teaching them to eat like people again. Severus was glad he hadn't stayed for breakfast or dinner, (lunch was different,) because otherwise, he would find himself in a wooden box, being nicely put their by Bellatrix's temper because he remarked upon how she ate. That had gotten worse, too: it was very easy to accidentally say something to upset her or anger her, and Rabastan was similar in that regard.

Other problems were rather minor things, such as having trouble remembering to shower and stuff. Then there was them losing balance: Severus had caught all three of them at separate times because they had almost fallen over.

Severus spent most of the remainder of that day with Rodolphus, deciphering the Runes code Sylvia had nicely sent them. They were in the Malfoy Library now, deciding to move there, Severus couldn't help but feel amused at Rodolphus' childish antics over the runes. He did mention to the other man he was acting like a child, but Rodolphus didn't care.

"Hey, Severus," he asked.

"Yes?" Severus asked looking up.

"I was wondering if I could ask a favour," Rodolphus requested.

"It depends what it is," Severus answered, curious about what it was.

"Well, you know how the contract between Bella and I means we can't divorce unless we have an heir." Severus nodded, having a suspicion of where this was going. "Well, I was wondering if I could adopt Mia as an heir. It would mean she would have the Lestrange blood, which would mean Bella and I could divorce because the family would live on."

"So you want to do the adoption ritual that the Potters did, except for just continuing the family line rather than adopting her?" Severus asked, and Rodolphus nodded confirming what that's what it meant. "I will have to ask Mia, but I am fine with it."

"Thank you, Severus," Rodolphus said gratefully.

"It is no problem: a lot of people wouldn't have a problem with it," Severus shrugged.

"Yes. If someone had asked my parents if they could do that with me or Bass, they would have been thrilled," Rodolphus said, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure," Severus said dryly.

A few hours shy of dinner, Severus bid the residents of Malfoy Manor goodbye, (though, Draco didn't want him to leave,) before returning to Hogwarts. He had to make a start with his lesson plans for the new term, and Minerva was joining him for dinner.

He was planning to tell her what had happened to Mia, and his plan to go to Australia (hopefully) in the near future. He then shuddered when he realised that the Scottish Witch might want to come. In which case, she would have to be let in on the secret of the Lestranges, and then he'd have to pray she would not turn him in, though he'd deserve it.

At the hospital…

Mia and Cynthia were happy enough, but still pretty sick. Aurora and then Cynthia's parents were allowed to stay at the hospital during the day and one could stay during the night, as Mia didn't seem to be contagious: something about the way she got the disease, meant she couldn't pass it on.

The next day, all their friends were coming to watch Starwars. Seeing she was sick and portkeys were not available back to England, she was going to be stuck here for a while, so they could watch the movie on Tuesday.

Right now, Mia was telling Cynthia and Aurora about the things she had learnt in England which she'd not said before. At the moment, she was telling them about her being Harriet Potter, who defeated Voldemort. She told them about the Malfoys too, and they were both curious to meet them. There were few purebloods like that here, and different countries had different cultures.

"That's pretty cool: I'd like to be a celebrity, as it would be cool to be famous. But I can understand if you don't want to be her," Cynthia said, thinking that no one would want to be called Harriet.

"I don't like the sound of Dumbledore or the Dark Lord," Aurora said quietly. Mia was curious about why Aurora called Voldemort the dark lord, as she knew it was uncommon for people to call him that. Mia supposed Aurora might not be comfortable calling him by his name, and You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named was just silly. It wasn't an issue, as she was just stating fact: he was a dark lord after all.

"Considering Harriet Potter is a beacon of England's wizard culture, she needs an appearance to explain why she doesn't turn up to Hogwarts, and having another identity would be cool," Cynthia said after a while. "So what will you do?"

"I suppose your right. Having two identities might be handy, too. You are correct, she is a pillar of the English wizarding world's community, so they will need to know something. I also need to go and find someone who knows what Harriet looks like because I am sure I look different to what she is supposed to," Mia said. She wasn't too keen on being the Girl-Who-Lived, but Cynthia had a point.

"What about appearing in some highly-populated area, and having an interview?" Aurora suggested.

"And what would I say?" Mia asked, seeing they were scheming.

"Say your training in the high mountains of Tibet?" Cynthia suggested brightly. "Then you can say you believe Voldie will come back, and your training to defeat him!"

"We need something realistic? What about training to defeat the Dark Lord in New Zealand? Or Outback Australia? Maybe even Egypt!" Aurora said, a sparkle appearing in her eye.

"Outback Australia would be good," Mia said thoughtfully.

"What are you guys planning?" Sylvia asked, alerting them to the fact she was there.

Mia, not knowing if Sylvia knew, explained about her being the Girl-Who-Lived and what that meant, then about what they were planning. "Sounds like a good idea, girls. Hopefully, Severus will work out that code, and you can go back and do it. And Harriet Potter would a useful persona down the track if you needed top-secret information," Sylvia said. "I bet a lot of people would give someone like that information which is normally hard to get."

"I'm glad you like. And I already pointed out that it would be useful!" Cynthia cried.

"Cynthia's growing up! She's got very wise!" Aurora said, cracking a joke about Cynthia who normally has childish ideas or silly ones.

"Hey!" Cynthia cried, glaring at her purple-haired friend.

Sylvia chuckled, and shook her head: children! It was times like this she missed her youth, and the fun times hanging out with her friends. She then pulled the paper she had brought when she went out for lunch and started to read it.

"Bloody hell! Err, pretend I didn't say it!" Sylvia exclaimed before quickly covering her mouth. The three girls jumped.

"What happened?" Mia asked.

"There's another Evil Lady! Called Lady Vindicta Diaboli," Sylvia said quickly.

"Lady Devil's Vengeance?" Cynthia questioned. She could speak Latin quite well, as could most Australian Purebloods.

"That's right. She says she is going to do the Devil's work for him. Interestingly enough, she's not a supremacist: she's going to kill everyone, no who or what they are. She says she just wants to end humanity, as humans, including herself, disgust her, and she claims she has been sent here by Satan to send all humans to hell. The good news is, she should be easy to be brought down as she is a one-woman band. Aurors and police are urging anyone with any useful information to step forward so they can catch her," Sylvia explained. "She's attacked several major cities in Asia and injured many, but fortunately the death toll is low, and she has been seen in Florida and made an attack there, and she's been spotted in Wellington New Zealand. She declared Australia is next."

"Gee, there have been a lot of bad things happening recently," Aurora remarked.

"When they do get her, will she get sentenced to death?" Cynthia asked.

"That's what happened with all the other magical criminals: the killing curse method. Especially for the Evil Lords and ladies," Sylvia nodded.

"I thought it was an unforgivable?" Mia asked.

"It is, except for magical execution: we believe that since it's painless it is better to kill someone that way, just in case the innocent get convicted so they don't suffer. None magics just throw them in prison if they get their hands on them, and the none magic murderers," Sylvia said.

"That's only for the Evil lords and ladies and murders though," Cynthia pointed out. "And throwing them in prison is not a good idea, because they'll just escape."

"Yes, quite true," Sylvia nodded. Right then, the nurse came to give out the potions for the morning, afternoon, evening, whatever it was, and check how the girls were going.

Severus, at the end of the day…

After returning to Hogwarts, Severus started his lesson plans. By the time Minerva was due for dinner, he had done the first year lessons for the year and made a good start on the second year plans. Why he needed to do new ones every year was beyond Severus, but at the moment he wanted to keep his job but keep away from Dumbledore or at least not spent too much time with him, so he didn't ask or refuse to do it.

Minerva arrived through the floo at exactly seven a clock. She had been at her house outside of Hogwarts the last few days, located in a sunny and warm part of England, and she probably would return there after dinner, to pack to come back to school the next day.

"Good evening, Severus," she said, stepping through.

"Evening' Minerva," Severus nodded. He then called an elf, and they organised what they wanted.

"How's your day been?" Severus asked, gesturing for the witch to sit down at the table, and then he got them both a drink.

"Good, what about you? How was your day?" Minerva asked.

"Apart from a letter, uneventful," Severus explained. Then he explained about Mia's condition and the Portkey thing.

"That's horrible! You will tell me when you work it out, won't you? Do you need any help?" Minerva cried.

"I had a feeling you'd say that, and I have a friend onto it," Severus said.

"Who?" Minerva asked, curious.

"Just a friend," Severus said simply. But she kept badgering him until he realised the witch would get the truth out of him one way or the other, so he better be honest now.

When he finished explaining about the Lestranges and how Rodolphus was working on the runes, Severus was worried he was going to call Madam Pomphrey as Minerva had gone alarmingly pale. But, he didn't need to, fortunately, as she recovered a bit almost straight away.

"As much as I detest him and his followers except for a few, I can somehow understand why you did it," Minerva said eventually. She still looked pale, and Severus was still a bit worried about her.

"Mia is the main reason, and the fact the Malfoys are friends is another: but those are the reasons why I agreed to it. But Minerva, one day I am going to decide who I want to eventually follow, and if I stay with the dark lord, please at least go neutral. I don't want to see you dead, or be possibly forced into killing you," Severus said awkwardly. He cared for Minerva-while Elieen had been his mother, and had cared for him well, but he saw the head of Gryffindor as another mother, and they had gotten really close over the years especially recently.

"You're losing your trust in Albus, aren't you?" Minerva said, making a conclusion.

"Yes, I am," Severus nodded.

"There is no way I will follow him, but I will not fight for either if that is what you choose," Minerva nodded. As it was, she knew Severus struggled with keeping up his spy persona when he fought against her, so if they chose different sides it would be hard, so she decided that the middle ground would be the best. It had the advantage of not having to put up with Dumbledore, too.

After that, Severus lifted the mood by bringing up Aurora. Minerva was very interested, and Severus thought the Scottish witch had something she wanted to say but was not saying it. He found it odd and curious.

At one point, Severus asked, "Do you think I am doing an okay job at being a father, Minerva?"

"I don't live with you, but you seem to be doing a fine job. I am sure she would agree if you asked," Minerva said.

At a quarter to eleven, Minerva went home, and Severus went to bed. The next time he went to Malfoy Manor, which was the next morning. He was putting up with Bellatrix's staring, and he had lesson plans on his mind, but he did some and made some progress with the plans. With any luck, they'd progress with the code for going to Australia, too.

So, a Flower in the Dark is up for adoption, I hope someone is interested. I'm sorry if the chapter is not that great, considering I was just going to ditch the story, I thought reading through it four times and put it through grammarly would be enough. Bye.