A/N: Hello my lovelies. Long time no see. Forgive me. I hope you enjoy this installment, it's a bit of a diversion, but an important one, and is leading into some big chapters to come!

-Lil

Chastity Flintridge was incredibly good at her job. Severus only hoped that she would be willing to help.

Severus had met Chastity years ago. Following his return to Wizarding society, he had promised Lucius he would keep his Godson out of Azkaban and had set out to find a Solicitor that would take the case; and win it. His search had taken him to the States where he knew he could find a Solicitor who was removed from their conflict with Voldemort and the war that he had wrought.

It had taken some searching, but he had found what he was looking for in Chastity Flintridge. He found her in New York, where she had set up a small office defending Witches and Wizards in the High Courts there. Severus wouldn't go so far as to say that she was a dark witch, she was nothing of the sort, but he had found that she had very open ideas about what should and should not be considered Dark Magic.

It had taken some convincing but Severus had been able to get her to agree to defend Draco when he faced the Wizengamot for his crimes in the War. It was a long and arduous process and he worked tirelessly and ruthlessly by her side for months gathering intel and pensive accounts of Draco's life within the Death Eaters. Anything that would show his Godson was not culpable in the crimes that he had been forced to commit and bear witness to; they were after it.

Miss Flintridge, or Chastity, as she insisted Severus call her; was fascinated by Severus' story. She certainly knew some of it before meeting him in New York; tales of the Golden Trios triumph over the Dark Lord Voldermort and his Death Eaters; and the Spy who worked from the darkest depths to bring about the destruction of the greatest Wizarding evil since Grindelwald, was certainly widely publicized even in the States. She constantly prodded him for information, assuring him it would help with the case to have a broader knowledge of the story, and that no detail was too small or insignificant.

It was, for the first time, both freeing and easy to open up to someone and discuss some of the darkest days of his life. Severus had a lot of insight into how easy it was to follow the Dark Lords orders, knowing that to resist was to die, or worse as in Draco's case, to watch those you loved most suffer the same fate. He spoke with her about Voldemort's first rise and what it was like to be a lieutenant in that dark army and then to betray it. He spoke of the difficulty of doing the right thing in the face of certain failure and death. He even found himself speaking of Lily Evans. Lily Potter. Evans, the girl he had loved with a childlike obsession and understanding. To Chastity he found himself speaking of the deep knowledge that the Dark Lords views on Purity were absurd at best as he had grown watching this beautiful and bright Muggle born Witch blossom and shine before his eyes, outdoing the very Pure Blooded Wizards who claimed her worthless and good only for death, or their sickening games. He spoke of knowing that he had signed her death warrant in his desperate bid to earn his Lords favor and thus the power he desired, hoping that the power he carried would somehow win his loves affections; something he now saw there had never been any hope for.

Severus told her of the freedom and fear that came with the Dark Lords first fall. He told her that through the tremendous pain of loss he was feeling over the loss of the woman he truly believed himself soul mated to, he felt free of a darkness that permeated the air surrounding the Dark Lord, and fearful of the knowledge that the darkness would surely return.

It was as he spoke of his time as a teacher that Draco first truly entered into the conversation, but Chastity assured him that it was all part of the backstory that would help her free his Godson, and after all, a better understanding of the Wizengamots decision to free him following the first war would only help her to assure a similar outcome for Draco.

While his early tenure as Potions Master for Hogwarts was of little importance to the case or his life truly, the year in which the Chosen One, and his Godson, came to Hogwarts was a different story. Severus could remember speaking with his Godson in his office early in the year, listening to him bemoan the fact that the Chosen One had scoffed at his offer of friendship, and the young boys confusion over his mild Hero worship of such a celebrity, and his own fathers obvious disdain for the boy any time he had been mentioned at home growing up. Draco had yet to realize the extent of his own fathers true involvement within the Death Eaters inner circle and though he understood his father to have some serious Pure Blood ideology and sympathies for the Dark Lord, he still learned that The Boy Who Lived had somehow defeated the Greatest Wizard to ever live, and in his young mind that made him someone worthy of a small amount of worship. He had certainly grown out of that quickly enough as his friendship was rebuffed, and he was able to see the scrawny ill kept boy for himself.

Severus also told her that within the Malfoy home, Draco was the little Prince and was treated as such, with a doting and loving mother, and while Lucius had been far from warm and kind to most, towards his son he was almost gentle and made sure that Draco always knew that he was not just the Heir but the best of the Malfoy family and deserving of all the perks that the name would bring to him in his life.

Soon, he told her, Draco began to learn more of his father's true beliefs concerning the Dark Lord, and that he had been a follower of the Great Wizard during his life. Draco learned similarly that his Godfather was also a loyal follower and one of his Lords most trusted. It was about his third year in Hogwarts when the young man began to have questions for his Godfather regarding the Death Eaters and their mission.

"He came to me in his third year, Merlin he thought he was the hottest little shit there ever was, and maybe he would have He comes in, and he says to me 'Uncle, how did you become a Death Eater?'" Severus looked at Chastity as he spoke, and he could tell she wanted to hear what he had told his Godson but wanted the truth even more. "And I looked at this young, pompous little brat whom I loved as much as I had or could love anyone, and I lied. Not that lying was difficult when one has been a spy and is an accomplished Occlumens, but the real challenge is to lie so well that you almost tell only the truth. 'Oh, your father, who was years older than me and already well trusted by the Dark Lord introduced us. He took me to a grand party where the Dark Lord was speaking, and I was enthralled by his words and his power. There were many festivities to be enjoyed that night, and enjoy I did, and when I was brought to a study to speak privately with the Dark Lord I was enthralled by his words and his power. He offered nothing to me then, just showed a small interest in me, and I took a great interest in him.' Draco was of course less interested in the conversation that took place between two wizards than he was in the more salacious aspects of the Death Eater Initiations he had heard whispers of. Of course, its common folklore among the uninitiated, the revels and sexual exploits of a Benevolent Lord who wishes to grant pleasure and riches to his faithful. While I admit the Dark Lord employed many means of control, and pleasure was one of them, revels were never all fun and games, and initiation required sacrifice.

I never wanted Draco to join the ranks and follow in his fathers footsteps, but I also knew that whatever I told the boy would be repeated for the father and that someday my words could be used to bury me by either or both sides.

"So, you reinforced the fairie tale. You let this young boy believe that he would be rewarded for following his darker impulses, for following his father. You didn't warn him off, did you?" Chastity asked him.

"I told him what I needed to tell him to protect my cover while protecting him as much as I could. 'There is nothing like initiation to the Death Eaters. It is an event unlike any you could ever imagine, and so much more than the stories you boys whisper about in your dorm rooms like little fools. With pleasure often you'll find there is pain to be had by someone.' Stupid whelp had the nerve to ask me if pain wasn't a part of my pleasure. He had certainly spent too much time listening in on his father's sexual exploits. 'Idiot child, there is more to pain than cuts and bruises and true pain isn't deadly but leaves you wishing for the end of your rotten life.'" He never did seem to understand the concept that pain came from something darker than a hex or curse, and as a boy of fourteen he was still living under the delusion that he could handle what was thrown his way and come out stronger for it. He had yet to watch his father wither under the effect of the Cruciatis or hear screams in the night from the bowels of his Manor as some poor soul was ripped in two.

Chastity sat there listening, taking in his words with an attentiveness he had often wished to find in just one student. She mulled them over and analyzed their meaning and the truth she knew they held, looking for the part that was the lie. "So, where's the lie? Were you not as enthralled by His words as you led Draco to believe? Was the initiation painful for you? Did you suffer cuts and bruises with the promise of pleasure to follow? I feel like you haven't said anything even through all your words."

"Well at least I know you're smarter than the average dunderheaded third year. Hopefully you are worth all the Galleons I'm paying you," he told her.

"Oh, I'm worth every Knut. And you still haven't answered the question Severus," she prodded him.

"Well, Draco was smarter than the average third year as well, and he, like you, wasn't satisfied with my story so far. 'Uncle, come now, tell me. It isn't as if your spying wasn't a matter of record, your testimonies in the Wizengamot are well known, and more than one idiot has called you traitor in the common room. And of course, father has certainly told me of how only the smartest of loyal were able to get away without seeing the inside of Azkaban. I already know you were one of the smartest. I just want to know how you joined the ranks. Father tells tales, but he's always been fond of his embellishments, hasn't he?' he wasn't about to let me leave him with only platitudes and prevarications. So, I told him what he wished to hear.'"

"But not the actual truth of the matter?" she asked.

"The truth is my own and the story I told is so much easier to hear and understand. Truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction, and it wasn't difficult to spin a yarn that would weave into a tapestry to difficult to pull apart," Severus explained.

"So, what's the story that you told him?" she asked.

"I looked to him, and it all came so easily. 'That night, following months of parties and meetings that I had attended, speeches I had listened too, and private talks with the Dark Lord, I was brought to the home of one of his eldest supporters, a Wizard who made Dumbledore look young and was the last heir of an old family. Myself, and two other young hopefuls were brought to the ballroom where the Death Eaters were gathered, surrounding a grand throne that The Dark Lord occupied like a king of old. I don't know what I had expected, the exuberant celebrations of my new comrades, but the ballroom was so silent you could hear the air blowing through your father's silver locks.

The Dark Lord rose slowly, and those that had been standing before him fell to their knees as one. He walked past them, towards those who dared try to earn his favor and join his ranks, and as he glided ever closer his words began to echo in my mind though his lips never moved. 'Welcome young Severus. There is much you can learn here, and much I wish to teach you, but knowledge is power, and power is never free.' He told me, speaking to mind. I assumed he spoke similarly to the two eager buffoons that were there with me, but I never bothered to ask, and it never mattered. 'Your passions and desires are laid bare before me, and your secrets are mine to keep. I offer you more than you could ever hope to dream of or achieve and I offer you the chance to join among those who are more worthy and pure of blood and power, yet I do offer. The question I ask Severus, is what do you offer in return.'

'There is no explaining the feeling the first time you know you are speaking with someone who can see into your mind. I was suddenly aware that I had never had a secret thought within his presence and wondered if there were any thoughts that I hadn't wanted him to see, but it was too late, and there was no going back to earlier meetings to fix mistakes that I may have made. I was also aware that the most powerful Wizard alive had just asked me a question and that hesitancy would likely not go over well.'

'That's an understatement Uncle,' Draco had told me, and he was certainly right in that. 'So, what did you tell him? What promises were made?' He asked me, as if I wasn't about to tell him the rest of my tale.

'I offer you my obedience, and the labors of my body and mind.' I promised.

'And what of your soul? Do you offer that to me as well Severus?' The Dark Lord asked.

'What soul? Inside is nothing but darkness and desire, and I know only you can bring me the power to fulfil my desires and allow me to thrive and prosper in the dark.' Someone in the ranks snickered a little too loudly as I answered. A silently cast Crucio brought him to his knees but he never complained, and I'm not even sure who it was, in the grand scheme of the evening that first Crucio seemed so insignificant. More importantly, the Dark Lord didn't snicker at my proclamation, instead he offered me salvation.

'Oh, you do have a soul my young Severus. Dark and twisted though it is, it still shines within you and begs for a balm to its roughened edges. I wonder Severus, what caused such havoc to such a young soul? Could your daddy issues be to blame, or the little Mudblood who you wished to make your own little pet? A little of both, or neither at all? I do wonder, as one wonders what puzzle piece is missing, but the truth is that I care not what has caused the rips and tears inside you, I offer you the power to heal them and rise above your muddied fathers blood and claim your place in our new world.' He told me."

"'What Mudblood?' Draco asked me."

"'Do you want to hear my story or hear about some bit of nothing that had caught my eye in my foolish youth? If you want to hear how this ends, you'll let me speak and finish, otherwise be off with you I've papers that need grading.' He certainly shut up quickly then, hanging on every word like you're doing now, even knowing that its false." Severus smiled as he saw Chastity squirm a little under his gaze. He couldn't help but notice the flush on her cheeks and the way it extended down her lean neck and onto the swell of her breasts. Oh, he had noticed those before but never with such color on her usually pale and pristine skin, and suddenly he found himself as enthralled by her appearance as she so obviously was with his story.

"So how does this story end Severus?" she asked, her voice a little breathier than it usually was.

"He was hanging on every word, and it has always been my thankless job to not only lead him as best as I could towards becoming the man I knew he had the power to be, and to maintain my cover as double agent when speaking to anyone, even those on the side of light. It was second nature to me then, to use my words to make people see things just the way I wanted them to, to make them see me the way I wanted them to. After all, I used my words to fool even the Dark Lord into believing me, I used them to fool myself a time or two."

"But it was Draco who you needed to fool this time, and perhaps his father too. So, you would have to have been so careful in your lies so they couldn't be unraveled." Chastity spoke, understanding the game he had been playing, the line he had to balance with the grace and agility of a tight rope walker traversing a pool of Grindylows.

"'The Dark Lord asked me for my twisted soul and offered to twist it further for his needs.' I told Draco.

'My Lord, I offer you all that I am to serve your great purpose, and should you see a soul within me than take it as I certainly see no use in it. I crave knowledge, and power, and care little for anything else. The world that you wish to build is one in which I wish to live and, live well. Tell me how I may be of use to you.' I felt him pull from my mind then, and he approached me directly. He placed his manicured fingers atop my head, and I felt his power more surely than ever, and more surely than I have ever felt power from any Wizard or Witch." Severus had told Draco, and now Chastity.

"'Prove to me your words are true Severus. The men who came here with you tonight wish to serve only themselves and seek to use me to their own end. Their lives have been judged, and death is all they deserve, and with it they can serve to better your mind, as I am sure their bodies can be put to good use as Potions Ingredients when you begin working towards your Mastery, and you will gain your Mastery. I find I have need for a good Potions Master and I have heard tell of your proficiency in the subject. So now Severus, the question is, how best to end their life and serve both our purposes?' The Dark Lord had let his will be known, and it was to me then to show Him what I offered him.'" Severus continued his story, pausing as he remembered the day it happened, and the day he told part truths and misdirection's to Draco.

"So how does a man, a young man, take two lives? Of men he presumably just met." Chastity asked him, though she wasn't expecting him to tell her the truth, the whole point of his story was how he was lying to Draco, of course he also said that he was hiding his lie in truths and she was as confused as she was fascinated by the dark tale. As a defense attorney she was no stranger to death and crime and a touch of evil. Severus' story left little doubt in her mind that he was a man capable of almost anything, but after all the time they had spent together talking about Draco she knew in her heart he wasn't evil.

"What I told Draco was where my story began to resemble fiction. I told him how I used an Avada to quickly and quietly cut down two worthless fools who deserved no more from me. I told him how I felt nothing as I took my first two lives and thus became a Death Eater. 'They fell silently before either of them even realized they weren't making it out of that Ballroom. Their death ripped whatever there was of my soul and as I looked up into the face of the Wizard who had demanded their execution I saw no trace of pride or happiness, just a cool contemplation as he considered how best to put his new acquisition to use. The Dark Lord was going to have use of me, that I knew, and I was determined to make him proud. I took my mark and shortly thereafter was introduced to a Potions Master I was to apprentice to. The day I took my mark was the last day my life was my own. Remember that Draco.' Of course, he missed my point spectacularly that day, but in time, when his marking was demanded of him, he told me that he remembered what I told him that day and finally understood." Severus could see her watching him for a clue to his lie and wondering what Draco had finally learned from his long-winded lesson, and how it could be used to help prove his innocence.

"So where was the lie Severus?" she asked. "What lesson were you teaching with that lesson because I don't hear much but the obvious, that a Death Eater would be called on to kill, but Draco already knew that. You've told me before that Lucius bragged to his son about being above the law and cutting down the enemies of the cause. Draco admitted to me that he saw his father throw the Killing Curse as a young boy, at some Ministry Official who was asking too many questions and started to poke around the Manor. He was never seen again, and Draco assumes he ended up incinerated in the Manor furnace, as he knew to happen later to problems during the war. So, what am I missing?" she wondered honestly. "What's the dark secret Severus?"

Severus smirked at her, she was certainly intelligent, that he already knew. She was able to see the darkness without judgement. With all that she already knew she didn't deem Draco a lost cause yet and she wasn't looking at him with derision, she was contemplative, and almost concerned. Curious that. "I told Draco three outright lies and led him to a calculated misconception through body language and my tone of voice. It is a gift I have honed over the years, to still lie while being honest in my words." Severus paused while he considered telling her the truth, there wasn't really any need, telling her the lies and the lesson was enough, it would help to explain how Draco went from idolizing his father and all he stood for to thinking for himself and acting purely out of self-preservation, and to save his family, his mother especially.

Something in the way she was looking at him, without judgement, just an honest curiosity and something else, hidden underneath, pulled at him. She was so easy to talk to, to be honest with, and there was no need to hide from his past anymore. It was time, perhaps to truly start to just put it behind him. "Three lies. The first is that I didn't use the Killing Curse. I don't think I could have, not then. I cut them down with a cutting curse I had devised in my sixth year. It was the first time I really used it like it was intended. Throwing it at trees at the edge of the Forbidden Forest didn't cause nearly as much damage, though it had led poor Hagrid to think that he might find himself some new unknown pet if he set the right traps. He never did find me, or the pet he was hoping for." He paused for a moment, remembering thinking it so funny at the time to watch the groundkeeper's hopeful pursuit of some unknown monster when it had been him all along.

"The second lie was that they had not been the first two lives I had taken. That had happened the year before, and no one was mourning the husband and wife who succumbed to an unknown poison in a run-down muggle neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks. By the time their bodies were found I was back at Hogwarts for my final year and the Muggle Police didn't even look for me long, they assumed I had run away long before my parents deaths as there wasn't a trace of me in that hell hole I still sadly own. They were buried in paupers' graves with no one to mourn them, and not a soul who cared." He had only ever told Dumbledore what had really happened to his parents, though he knew the Dark Lord had seen it in his mind. He had been amused by the Half Bloods murder of his Muggle father and that of the Witch who had never protected him from the abusive man she chose to sully herself with. He wasn't sure how Chastity would take his admission, not that it would matter he supposed, that wasn't important to Draco or his defense. He had lied for himself not his Godson.

Chastity took a moment to think about the man in front of her who had just admitted to killing his own parents when he was still a child. She had worked several cases of patricide in her years, and in all but one of them she truly felt that death was warranted, and she quickly sensed that this was one of those times. "They deserved it. The world has no use for people who beat on their own kids."

"I didn't say they beat me," he reminded her.

She just smiled. "You didn't have to. I've seen it so many times I know the ones who did what they had to to survive, and the ones that had evil coursing through them driving them to do the unthinkable and the undeserved. You did what you had to, with them anyhow."

"It was easy. My mother knew it was happening before she even drank her tea. She knew the signs of the Lentum Mortis potion I had dropped in her tea. She even thanked me for it before she drank. His I dropped in his beer, and he only yelled that it was taking to long for me to get the bottle open and bring it out. I left for the train station and Hogwarts the next day. No one missed them. Certainly not me." Severus waited for her to condemn him for his admission, but she continued to surprise him.

"Slow Death. Smart choice. Slow acting so you were long gone before it did anything, and it wouldn't have been a pleasant end. Not easy to get your hands on, it's a controlled Potion and not sold in any Apothecaries I've known in the States and I assume the same can be said of here. Its harder still to brew than it is to buy, but a skilled and determined brewer could make it happen, the ingredients aren't that difficult to come by, save one. But if you could find an acromantula that was mature enough, and were able to collect her venom, or perhaps knew someone who was, its certainly possible," she told him, surprising him again.

"Girl knows her potions. Hagrid was happy to oblidge my curiosity and help me with an extracurricular project. I told him I was brewing a potion that would heal young dragons who had been forcibly descaled. No such potion of course, but he didn't know that, and his big heart was eager to help. As for being smart, it was less about self-preservation and more about drawing out the bastard's pain, but it was a nice side effect that I wouldn't have to stick around and clean up the mess. By the time I was done with school they were long gone and easily forgotten," he told her. Of course, he hadn't forgotten them, his fathers voice still rang through his head when was feeling low, reminding him that he would never amount to much.

Chastity smiled. "I like potions. I still make most of my own rather than buying them, its fresher and safer that way. I know what I'm taking. Besides, brewing in my little home lab calms me and helps me focus when I'm struggling on a tough case. It was still smart, even if self-preservation wasn't your main motivation. It shows that you think ahead and take all possibilities into account when you make a decision. But that's still two lies and you're at the end of the story."

Severus smirked at her. "Not quite the end. The third outright lie was that it was the last day my life was my own. It wasn't; my life had never belonged to me. Just as Draco's had never belonged to him. First, I was my fathers to take his frustrations out on, and my mothers to unload her guilt. Then as I got to school and sought to find freedom and belonging, I quickly found myself under someone else's heel.

Lucius zeroed in on me quickly, offering me protection in the common room from those who thought my less than pure blood made me worth less, but he always asked for something in return. I shared the secrets I heard in dark corners of the library and was good at sneaking into places I didn't belong, and nicking bottles of Ogden's off the bar once I was old enough for Hogsmeade trips. And surely as I was groomed to fall in line and do what I was told, so was Draco.

His father groomed him to be the perfect little Death Eater from the moment he was born. Lucius always loved Draco and would do anything for him to have the absolute best life. In Lucius' mind there was no better to be had than to be the right hand of most powerful Wizard in a world that they ruled. Draco was his father's eyes and ears in the school when I could no longer be trusted to always be truthful, or all knowing. After all, children rarely confide all their secrets to their head of house, but they may let things slip to their friend. Draco was in position to hear secrets his father could use to further their standing, at first just in social standing, slowly picking away at the other families in their circle until the Malfoys stood high above them all with no question, and then once the Dark Lord returned, he could point out those whose families were less than thrilled with his return. He kept an eye on Potter in and out of classes, keeping his father apprised of how the Boy Who Lived was handling life in the Wizarding World and just how powerful he seemed to be. He was always his fathers' man, and his father belonged to Voldermort. Neither of them was free from the moment Lucius happily took his mark." Severus explained to her without really telling her anything. How do you explain what it was like to have someone like Lucius Malfoy show you kindness and how easily it was to be swayed by it? Severus loved Lucius like the older brother he always wished he had, and Lucius had taken him under his wing and come to care for him as much as Lucius cared for anyone who wasn't himself, or his Heir. He followed Lucius' every command because he knew Lucius would protect him, and then as he was older, knew he would be thankful and reciprocate the favor someway, eventually thanking him with an invitation to a party, and an introduction to Lord Voldermort.

Chastity understood, what she could anyhow. She understood that Draco had always done as his father had asked, because he loved his father, and his father loved him. She could tell she was missing pieces of the Severus Snape puzzle and she was sure she would never have them all, but she liked a bit of mystery. It intrigued her and was fun to try and figure out. "And the misdirection. The lie you didn't tell him but led him to believe just the same?" she asked.

"When I told him, that I killed those men, I gave the impression that I did so because it was them or me. Truthfully, they were nothing to me and I would have done anything to make the Dark Lord find me worthy, to gain that Mastery he was promising, to gain the power and prestige I craved. I truly felt empty, and their deaths didn't matter to me. Not then," he told her, remembering the pain he felt the day those deaths came back to haunt him, the day his mark came to be his undoing and not his salvation. When Lily was killed, and he realized that no promise from Lord Voldermort meant anything at all if it stopped being beneficial to Voldemort's desires. All the lives he had taken in service of a dead Dark Lord to show Lily that he was worth more than James Potter, and she was taken from him anyhow.

"How did you make him think that? How do you know that he did?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"I am a master Legillemens, and a skilled actor. One must be to be a spy. A simple deep breath at the right moment, and a small quiver of the lip, the wringing of my hands as I recounted the tale, was enough to give the impression I wanted him to see. And the fact that I had been inside his mind, listening to his inner most reactions to my story was enough to let me know that he left my office believing that his Godfather killed two men to save his own life, like his father had killed that Ministry worker to save their family. Later, when he was asked to take his mark, he told me that he remembered that day. He remembered what I told him, and what I didn't. He told me his life wasn't his own anymore already, and he was scared of who he was, and he was scared of what he would be asked to do. I told him to do as he was told, and that his fears were childish and to trust in me and his father, and our Lord. He stopped trusting me though, for a time. I still did what was needed to keep him safe, and now I am asking you to do what you can to help me in that. Help me get him out of Azkaban. He doesn't deserve to be there. And Dumbledore's was the first and only life he was ever asked to take, and he didn't take it, he couldn't have," Severus told her.

"But you could, and you did," she said. It wasn't a secret. He had openly been named as Dumbledore's killer and even in the States that death was well publicized, as was the testimony of Harry Potter who loudly proclaimed to anyone who would listen that Severus Snape was a hero who ended an old mans suffering and in doing so helped to turn the tide in the war so that it could be ended, and ended favorably.

"There's no secrets in my life. They were all plastered in the Prophet and every other Wizarding paper of note," he answered.

"You have more secrets and mysteries than could fill all the papers in the Wizarding and Muggle worlds, I think. As for Draco, you should already know that I will do what I can to free him, and you should know I don't like to lose," she told him, standing up from her chair and moving closer to him.

Severus followed her lead, and stood as well, sidestepping the desk they were at and taking a long stride in her direction, closing the gap between them. "What else should I know about you Miss Flintridge. It seems to me that I do all the talking, while you scribble down notes and say little in return."

Chastity moved a hand up to rest on his chest. "It's Chastity, Severus. No need to be so formal when you've just borne yourself to me. As for me, I suppose you should know that I am good at what I do. Everything I do. If I'm not good at it, I don't bother. I agreed to stay here until this case is over, and then I'm gone. I have a life to get back to and I'm not interested in prolonging my stay in England or pretending this is anything but what it is, but it is something, and since I'm here there isn't any reason I can't enjoy my stay. I like puzzles. And you are indeed a puzzle Severus Snape," she told him, as she leaned up to kiss his cheek.

"Severus clamped a hand over hers, grasping her at the wrist where her hand rested on his chest. "I'm no game or puzzle to be solved."

Chastity just laughed. "You certainly aren't a game. And I doubt I could solve the puzzle of you even if I had several lifetimes to devote to trying. I'm just telling you that I find you fascinating. And attractive. I work better with a clear mind, and nothing clears it like brewing and sex, and I don't have a lab in my hotel room, but it does have a rather large bed."

Severus found himself joining her laughter. She surprised him, when few had managed to do so. He had to admit that she was pleasant to look at, even if not his standard type, a little too uptight. But when her cheeks and chest had flushed, he had seen a crack in that armor and found himself drawn to it. And now, as she laughed and offered herself to him, who was he to say no. He knew it wouldn't last, she had as good as said so, and he had no interest in a relationship with anyone, but a release would do him as good as she claimed it would do her.

He found himself following her out of the office she was borrowing from a local firm, and to an apparition point where he allowed her to side along him to her hotel room, located somewhere in Muggle London.

It was just the first of many nights he spent with Chastity as they worked together to free Draco, and she had been right, she worked better with a clear head and the sex seemed to clear it for her.

It hadn't been mind blowing, but it had sufficed to serve them both during a tense time when they needed to blow off steam and relax a little, and Severus learned quickly that she wasn't clingy or needy afterwards. Once they were done, she would thank him for the good time and go to shower while he quietly left. It was a good routine. And when the case was over, they came together one last time and both walked away satisfied that they had won, and thankful for the company during those months that they had been fighting towards the same goal. It wasn't messy as he had once feared it might be, and they parted with a firm handshake and a promise that he wouldn't find himself needing her services again.

….…

That was a promise he hadn't been able to keep. He couldn't think of anyone tenacious enough, or thorough enough to help Hermione now. He knew that Chastity was her only hope, she would just have to find someone else to help her clear her mind this time, that or borrow his lab and do some brewing.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed Severus' trip down memory lane, and our introduction to Miss Chastity. Hopefully she can work her magic and help get our girl out of the bind she's found herself in. Should be interesting. See you soon. - Lil