RESCUES

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 1 – If You Want Something Done Right

Lily Evans was known as the brightest witch of her age. Granted, she was very intelligent, talented and powerful. She definitely shouldn't have been placed in Gryffindor, but apparently despite the Hat wanting to put her in Ravenclaw or Slytherin, his voice suddenly froze and GRYFFINDOR was called out instead. She was disappointed, puzzled and then angry as she noticed that one of the brats she had met on the train, Somebody Black, was practically drooling just as that other creep James Potter was as she walked passed him on the way to Gryffindor's table.

She hadn't liked them when they met on the train, but after a week trapped in that House she hated them, especially what they were doing to her friend Severus. As the years went on, hatred turned into loathing, then to despising and even after the "incident" in fifth year which had broken her friendship with Sev, her thoughts actually turned to murder – not that she would actually commit that crime…but she had thought about it several times and how to get away with it.

She had ignored Sev when he tried to apologize to her, even though she knew that he said it in a moment of humiliation, stress, and with more shame to come. She herself committed a faux pau when she giggled. She knew she wouldn't do such a thing, but it had been done and when she thought about it later, she had felt the essence of the tickling charm.

Her roommates were estatic that she had finally saw the light and wouldn't have anything to do with that slimy Slytherin, how things would get much better for her now and, what made her blood freeze, Marlene saying "Now you and James can finally get together" followed by her other roommates agreeing and then all of them began to trash Sev more harshly than usual while praising James Potter to the hilt. That settled it – someone had done some illegal spells probably both on her and Sev.

Despite her roommates sticking to her like glue and Potter and Black giving her looks of perhaps…triumph (with Black actually throwing kisses at her), Lily did manage to give them the slip and sought out her Charms professor who, at this point in her education was the only teacher besides Sprout who Lily respected and trusted.

"Professor" she asked Filius Flitwick "could you check me for charms, spells or potions as I sense something is wrong."

The half-Goblin sighed, knowing about the gossip going around the school with all the subtlety of a dragon crunching on the Hogwarts Express. "So you think you have been charmed…to ignore Snape's apology while giving Potter a new look? Well you aren't the only one, as I, Pomfrey, Pomona, Kettleburn and even Fitch have noticed strange things happening. Also Albus is looking entirely too smug and happy like he does when one of his schemes goes according to plan – usually to the detriment of others."

Flitwick checked and sure enough several nasty charms and curses had been used on her but since some were cast by her roommates, one by Frank Longbottom of all people and, no surprise here only disappointment, McGonagall.

After it was done and a list printed out for her, Filius asked her to calm down for a moment while he helped her out of this no-win situation. "Here is a rune that alerts you when magic is casted on you and what it is and here is another that prevents it from taking but only once so you will have to constantly recharge it with a drop of your blood." He then gave Lily, who was a very good rune caster, a book which contained esoteric runes that she could carve and use to solve this problem and prevent others without using her wand.

"You may take this book home but I need it back by September 1st so please copy it and hide it someplace safe where your roommates or other people of interest might find it when they rifle through your trunk. Do you have a secret compartment in your trunk?"

Actually she did, where she kept certain things hidden from prying eyes – such as notes on experiments she was doing in Charms and Potions, and a few personal things that were no one's business but hers. Once upon a time, she had kept a secret diary hidden at the bottom of the trunk, but somehow the Marauders had acquired it and were taking turns reading certain excerpts aloud in the common room. Since boys were spelled from entering the girls' dorms, one of her roommates, or perhaps a house elf, had to have taken it. She suspected that her trunk was being looked through, but only a roommate could have found it and told the Marauders.

After that, during the Christmas holidays, Sev had convinced her to go to Diagon Alley and trade in her trunk for another one – with a false bottom and a password on it that only Lily knew about. She had used all of the money she received for Christmas to purchase it but it was well worth the price due to the extras she had purchased. Besides the false bottom, this trunk could be shrunken/enlarged with a tap of her wand, was spelled to look exactly like her old trunk and with another special tap of her wand, it would alert her if someone had been in her trunk and who it was. As Sev had said, "If you took off and/or added other protection spells, they would be cancelled and stronger ones would be cast."

This was during their third year and by the end of the school year, she found to her disgust and disappointment who had searched through her trunk. Two of her roommates and "best friends" and once by McGonagall herself. This only confirmed that her "friends" and Head of House couldn't be trusted.

After their third year, Sev had convinced her to get an extra, non-Ollivander made wand which didn't have a Ministry trace on it for safety sake. Eileen Snape had managed to scrounge up some galleons and the name of a reliable and decent wand maker. This wizard was a retired wand maker whose place of business had been in Knockturn Alley.

He had been driven out by the Ministry not because he did business in Knockturn (a black mark against you) or wouldn't put a trace on his wands, but because he made custom made wands with cores and woods not approved by Albus Dumbledore and hence the Ministry. Since his defeat of Grindelwald and the various elevations in political power and positions, apparently Dumbledore, without any specialized training, instinctively knew if something was dark and therefore evil. Now even Ollivander could only use certain cores and woods, unless the wand had already been made before a certain date. Even then, when one was sold, Ollivander had to give a report to the Ministry (and Dumbledore) of what the wand was made of, who made it, who it was sold to, etc. The rationale was to protect the country from a dark wizard acquiring a dark wand.

Lily and Sev kept their wands in the special bottom of the trunk and shrunken and hidden in a telescope, respectively. The bag carrying Sev's books, homework, quills, pens, etc. was constantly being accioed by the Marauders, gone through, homework and books "liberated" and assorted other damage done or at least until Sev learned the anti-summoning charm and a very strong locking charm which gave the invader a nasty sting.

Also at Filius' suggestion, Lily should keep up the ruse that the spells were still working and then when at home, have a talk with Sev after she went over the rune book. She did as he suggested but one upped him as after arriving at her home, she took her extra wand and snuck out to Sev's house. Fortunately, Tobias Snape wasn't at home so Lily could talk to Sev and Eileen and tell them what had really happened.

She used Lily's extra wand (because apparently someone had put back the trace on her wand ever since Sev went to Hogwarts). Just to be safe, they left the Snape house and once they got to the playground where Sev met Lily, the downtrodden Eileen, filled with anger at what had been done to her boy, gathered enough strength to apparate both teens directly to Vertical Alley, a little known and used street off of Diagon Alley. She then checked Sev and Lily for spells, some of which had been reapplied on Lily and the ones that, if her magic was working correctly had been cast on her son ever since he started Hogwarts and a few more recent ones such as blind anger and insulting Lily.

She removed as many as she could on Sev but some were too strong at least for her little used magic. It was now past midnight – the witching hour after all – so most shops were closed. Fortunately, the one she needed was in Vertical Alley and she led Sev and Lily to the back door of the shop before knocking loudly. After a bit, the door opened, revealing the owner, an elderly, grizzled old wizard who sometimes had Eileen brew a few potions for him, when he was too busy.

Actually, his business was in the process of shutting down because he was thinking of retiring, but the old wizard had always liked Eileen and knew the real reason she had married that Muggle. He also knew she was always in need of money, preferably galleons, to buy Sev his school things. That was where she got the money to buy Sev's extra wand.

Although Magnus Maximus was surprised to see not only Eileen but her son and a girl, he quickly let them in, sat them down in his small kitchen and put the kettle on while looking for some kind of biscuits or cake to go with it. Eileen said thank you but no one was hungry (except for Sev as Eileen hadn't been able to give him much for supper because Tobias had stolen the little housekeeping money she was saving to buy food) but tea would be appreciated.

Once tea was served in his chipped cups, introductions were made and Eileen informed Magnus the reason why they were here. It was a long story as it had been started at the beginning and when it was ended, Magnus thought for a while before asking his first questions.

"Why has the trace been put back on your wand?"

"I don't know, it just was after Sev started Hogwarts. I think someone did it to get him in trouble or even expelled because if I did magic it would probably register that he was doing it and not me. No one would believe us and since I rarely use my wand – except for emergencies – someone thought I did, hence the tracer being placed back on my wand. I found out accidentally while Sev was in school as I was using my wand and it felt different, so I checked and there was the trace."

"Let me guess, the Ministry refused to remove it for some ridiculous reason and/or would do it for an extremely large fee" Magnus said. Eileen confirmed it.

The next thing done was a sneaky sleep charm on the children and they fell asleep as it was late and they had had a long day. Just to be safe, Magnus cast a silencing circle around himself and Eileen.

"You know what you are going to have to do, don't you?" Magnus asked.

"Yes, I do, which is why I came to you. My father wouldn't answer a letter from me and probably wouldn't even read it or destroy it before anyone, such as my mother, could read it. However, he still likes and trusts you and if I undo the oath I made you swear…would you tell him the truth of why I married a filthy Muggle?"

"Of course. What reason should I give him of telling him now – other than being released from the oath you tricked me into taking. Also, even if he and your mother finally know the truth, it might not mean he would welcome you back with open arms."

"I don't expect him to welcome me as I…sinned…against the House of Prince. I disgraced my House in the worse way possible and don't ask mercy for me…just my son, who really is a true Pure-blood and not a Half-blood."

Magnus thought some more before replying that he would send a letter to Augustus Prince and ask for a meeting. Hopefully, it would be granted and soon.

"Are you aware that your brother Septimus had an accident?" Magnus asked using finger quotes.

"Yes, Sev sent me a copy of the Prophet's obituary which a classmate of his was kind enough to give him. But didn't Sept die two years ago?"

"Yes, I guess it has been that long. For an old man such as myself, time flies whether you are having fun or not. I usually don't have fun at my age."

"Do you need some Muggle money" Magnus asked. "I heard your boy's stomach growl so I am guessing you didn't have much or even anything to give him for supper and you look as if you haven't had a good feed for a while."

As much as she hated to admit it, she had to accept this kind gesture to feed her boy. She would just have to find a new hiding place, or two or three, Tobias hadn't found yet. Magnus gave her £7-11 as that was all of the Muggle money he had, which she gratefully thanked him for. The teens were awakened and the three of them went back to Cokeworth.

Lord Augustus Prince took his sweet time answering the letter sent to him by his oldest friend if only because he had an inkling what it was about. So did Lady Lycoris Prince and as she said to her husband "If you don't answer him I will visit his shop and see what he wants to tell you and I will take the appropriate action…if you know what I mean."

And Augustus did, so Magnus was invited to dinner the next night and sure enough, the inkling was correct.

"I was tricked into swearing an oath – to save your life, no less. Due to certain circumstances, I have recently been released from that oath due to a dire emergency. First things first, the oath I swore was to…Eileen, but she had her reasons. I tried to talk her out of doing what she did, but she feared you would call a blood feud, demand a duel and whatever other stupid fatherly, honor of the house idiocy you thought up."

After giving the warning, Magnus gave a brief explanation of how and why Eileen saved her father's and probably brothers' lives. As expected, Augustus hit the proverbial roof and yelled "There is still time to declare a blood feud, issue a challenge to a duel and…."

"And you will probably be killed in a duel or end up losing the blood feud. Ergo, the only sensible thing you can do" Lady Prince said "Is arrange for Eileen and especially her son to be saved and get back at that, that…dishonorable sleaze…the Slytherin way. In other words, by cunning, stealth, blackmail, whispering scandal and gossip in the right places – you know the way Dumbledore does his dirty work."

So some very careful and Slytherinish plans were made and the rescue accomplished with three days.

The night after the meeting took place was a Saturday, a night where many people go out and drink – sometimes too much. On Sunday morning, Tobias Snape was found in a puddle of his own vomit, stiff and dead as a doornail. Apparently, the vomit hadn't killed him, but the one empty and the other ¾ empty bottles of cheap gin being drunk too quickly had finally drove the old bastard to the early grave everyone expected him to go to.

An autopsy was performed and it was confirmed that one bottle of gin was in his stomach and the ¾ bottle was making its way to join it, but some had come out with the vomit and all over the front of his shabby clothes. Ding dong, the witch wasn't dead but her odious husband was. There was no funeral as not even Tobias' drinking buddies would pay their respects unless food and drink were served, but it wasn't as there was money for anything. Tobias was buried in a pauper's grave, his few personal possessions were thrown in the garbage and not even his estranged sisters or aunt would ever mourn him – especially since there was no money and nothing of value for them to inherit.

His widow and orphan packed all of their worldly goods in one battered suitcase and two cardboard boxes and the boy's school things were in his decrepit trunk. A taxi came for them and they barely had enough to pay the fare to the train station. What they did after that, no one knew…or cared.

So life went on in Cokeworth and the only resident of that town who knew anything was Lily Evans and she wasn't talking.