Thanks aljake. And just so you know, there are only two or three chapters left (please don't count on three).

X X X

She stood framed in a halo of golden afternoon light at the window. Her brow furrowed momentarily at the seal of the letter in her hand, but she tore it open and read it without much hesitation. An appalled expression took her face, and slowly warmed into a look of amusement.

"I've received an owl," Celeste said.

Severus froze.

"Severus?" Celeste turned and looked at Severus, who had been watching her from the dim doorway. He had thought she hadn't known he was there.

Celeste took a few steps towards him, and then stopped and looked down at the letter again. "Here," she said. "Read it."

Now forced to, Severus stepped forward into the room and took the letter from her. His eyes flicked down to the bottom of the page to read the signature.

"Lucius Malfoy," Severus read. He glanced up at Celeste and saw her amused expression.

"He's sent me an invitation for a social function ministry is putting on—the Wizemgamot's four hundredth anniversary. Apparently, it's going to be quite the to-do." She waved the gilded invitation card in her hand.

"I see," Severus said. He stiffly held the letter out to her, the thought of reading it now somewhat nauseating. He searched her face with hooded eyes, willing himself to find evidence there; but there was none. "And do you intend to go?"

Celeste blinked. "Pardon?"

"Invitations for such an event would be difficult to come by. Surely you don't want to pass this up?" Sarcasm was in his voice now. Severus nearly wanted her to go.

Celeste's face hardened. "I hadn't even considered it," she said. "Malfoy repulses me, and besides, why on earth would I go to a social function like this with a man who was not my husband?"

At her heated tone Severus dropped his gaze. He had presumed incorrectly, but that did not dispel the now irrational anger he felt—the anger he seemed always to feel these days.

"And why not?" he asked silkily.

Celeste stared at him in open, angry bewilderment. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded. Severus did not know how to reply. "Why? Why skulk around spying for two weeks, why throw things, why antagonize everyone who crosses your path?"

Severus felt his blood turn cold with anger. She did not understand. Who was she to say these things? His anger must have shown in his expression because Celeste took a pace back.

Several minutes passed while they stood defiant and furious, staring at each other. At last, "I have to wake Speranza." Celeste turned and walked from the room.

Severus stood for many minutes staring at the door she had passed through, Malfoy's letter crushed in his fist.

X X X

Celeste could feel Constanza's eyes on her clumsy paring and the knowledge only made her angrier. The knife slipped and took too large a piece.

"Did something happen?" Constanza asked.

Celeste shook her head without looking up.

"What did Severus say?"

Celeste dropped the paring and rubbed her face with her hands. "What makes you assume it has to do with Severus?"

Constanza considered Celeste regretfully. "Sometimes," she said, "sometimes he can be almost like his father." Guilt flickered across her face. "If he heard me say that...Do you think he's listening now?"

"No," Celeste reassured her. "And I doubt he'll be listening any more. I told him I knew about him watching us."

Constanza made a contemplative sound and took Celeste's paring from her. Celeste watched the nimble hands render the task simple.

"And yet, you loved his father, did you not?" Celeste asked. "That is why you never talk of him."

There was a skip in the rhythm of Constanza's knife. "He was my husband," she said.

"And that is all it took for you to love him?" Celeste asked. She found Constanza's response inexplicably infuriating. It made her words heedless and cruel, she knew.

"Yes," Constanza murmured. "He was my husband, and so I loved him."

"Weren't there other men?" Celeste asked spitefully.

Constanza's expression hardened. "No, there were not. Nor did I ever wish there to be. He was my husband and it was my duty as his wife to stand by him." Constanza raised her eyes to look into Celeste's own. "I took pride in it."

Celeste gazed levelly at the woman before her. Small and quiet, with subdued eyes and voice, the woman who had become her companion and friend over the past two months had never spoken with as much force as now. Her black eyes blazed with a fierceness and Celeste was at once struck by how alike they were to Severus's own. Constanza continued in a strange, strong voice—one that did not seem to belong to her.

"I did not know my husband before we were to be married, I did not know if he would be a good man, to me or my children. But the only thing I had power over was whether or not I was a good wife and mother. I fulfilled my duties as both of those. I lost my infant daughter, my son left, and my husband was cruel to me. But I did what was required of me. I have nothing to be sorry for and I have no regrets, apart from things over which I had no control. And yes, I loved and stood by my husband. It was my duty." Constanza's unflinching gaze held Celeste's.

Celeste closed her eyes to break the shaming gaze. She heard Constanza pick up her paring once more and set to work.

Constanza's words, Severus's face, the hopeless, trapped feeling she was so often seized by these past eight years washed through Celeste's mind. The kitchen was suddenly too hot—oppressing almost. Eyes still closed, Celeste swayed a little and recovered herself, but then Speranza began to wail from her basket and Celeste could only flee from the room.

Her pace quickened to a run and but she stopped quickly when she found she could go no further than the drawing room. Still able to hear Speranza's faint crying, Celeste opened the double doors and hid herself in the dim room. Once inside, she sank to the floor.

Celeste did not know how long she sat there, slumped in a heap in the long shadows of the room. Speranza's cries must have stopped eventually, but she could not hear them from the room anyway. Slowly, gradually, Celeste began to feel foolish. She regretted running from the kitchen as she had. Embarrassment of her action weighed her down into the floor, preventing her from standing and returning. She did not know what had come over her.

At the very back of it, however, she was partly grateful for her own cowardice. The room was soothingly still and while she sat there with her eyes closed she was able to think.

X X X

Severus hesitated outside the doors to the drawing room. His mother had advised him to seek out Celeste, and while it had gone against his better judgment to do so, here he found himself standing in the hall with one hand on the door handle. However, his deliberation was forced into action as Celeste's words from earlier were recalled. It would be infuriating to have her think he was spying, unsuccessfully, on her again. He briskly opened the door and stepped in.

The room was unlit, which surprised Severus. Celeste could not be there. He was turning to go when he noticed the still form kneeling on the floor, facing away from him.

"Celeste?" Severus said.

Celeste's head turned enough for Severus to make out her profile in the dark, but no more. Her expression was dull.

Silence ensued as Severus stood in the doorway, considering Celeste. Light cut into the room from behind him but it only illuminated as far as Celeste sat.

"Celeste?" Reluctantly concerned, Severus walked to Celeste and held out his hand to lift her off the ground. She stared at it a moment before taking it.

"What are you doing?" Severus asked.

"I was thinking about things," was Celeste's reply. They stood for a moment like that, considering each other in the dark. It was nighttime already and it was much darker now than it had been when Celeste first entered the room that evening. In the reticent light, neither one could tell if the other's eyes were really meeting their own.

"Constanza said you ran out on her," Severus said, more to break the uneasy intimacy of the moment than to prompt Celeste to speech.

"I should apologize to her," Celeste said. She sighed and looked toward the door.

"I am certain she was only concerned about you," Severus said stiffly.

Celeste shook her head. "No. Not for leaving. I should apologize for not understanding some things when I should have."

Severus peered at Celeste in the dim light. He was somewhat relieved that her dulled mood did not seem to be a result of his harsh words earlier, although he would be loath to admit that he regretted his implied accusations of that afternoon. In his opinion, they had been perfectly justified. As he considered her, his thoughts traveled on in that vein, mercilessly and unrelentingly. Malfoy's satisfied smirk flitted into his head then, closely followed by Lupin's too-innocent expression. He could feel his face turn back into the mask it normally was. When he spoke again, his voice was flat and cool.

"I suppose you will always have friends to turn to if living here becomes too harsh for you."

Celeste looked up at Severus in confusion and dismay. "It is fine here. I didn't mean to imply—"Celeste stopped. She screwed her brows together in distressed frustration. "What are you implying?"

Severus did not say anything and that was enough for Celeste. Celeste whirled from Severus and cast an incinerus spell on the chandelier hanging from the room. In the broad light she turned to face him once more.

"I did not ask for Lucius's attentions," she stated coolly and angrily.

"But no doubt it was flattering all the same," Severus said with derisiveness. He was aware of the foolishness of his own words, however, and quickly switched tracks. Why should he care about Malfoy so much? It was besides the point he was making. "I know this marriage has been as much of a burden and inconvenience to you as it has been to me," he stated levelly. "You justly have no sense of obligation to fulfill the vows you were forced to take." He watched Celeste's face become slack with surprise and felt a burning annoyance for what he considered to be a feigned unfamiliarity with the perspective he was voicing. He continued. "You had no need to stay here after I...liberated you from your father's house. However, perhaps you had the sense to realize that my family wealth will be useful for Speranza's upbringing and education—for securing her a place in society. As far as I can see it, that is the only logical reason for your remaining here."

Celeste considered him with a stony face. "Are you suggesting that I leave?"

Severus looked at her. Asking her to leave had never occurred to him. His heated words of a moment ago had been vindictive—the point he was trying to make unclear even to himself. And yet, as she spoke those words, with the open double doors to the side of the room, an irrational and impulsive voice spoke through his lips: "Yes."

Celeste was very still. Severus continued. "If you do not wish to be here, if our marriage is to you the burden I know it must be, then go."

The room was very silent as Severus considered Celeste and Celeste gazed at the far wall, where a square of vividly coloured wallpaper betrayed a painting that had once hung there. At length, Severus drew the edges of his cloak together and turned to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" Celeste asked in a dull voice.

Severus turned back to face her. "I have a meeting with someone." With that, he strode from the room, leaving a frail-looking Celeste behind him.

X X X

"Thank you, Severus," Dumbledore said solemnly. "I will send an owl to Alastor about this as soon as possible. I will not say where I received the information from, however. I am afraid he still does not trust you."

Severus nodded imperceptibly and stood to leave. "Headmaster," he said.

"Good evening, Severus. And let us hope for the safety of the Longbottoms."

Severus gave a slight nod of his head and swept from the room.

Dumbledore had been surprised to hear from Severus, and had been even more intrigued when Severus had requested a private meeting. However, Severus had felt that the information he had come across at Malfoy's dinner party would be of concern to the old headmaster. Accordingly, Dumbledore was likely already planning the protective charms to erect around the Longbottoms' cottage as Severus walked around the lake toward the gates of the school grounds.

The night was chilly despite the season and Severus intended to walk to the edge of the school grounds to disapparate as soon as possible; however, something about the way the moonlight hit the surface of the lake took him back to a night like this only a few months ago. Severus briefly hesitated by the lake and recalled the different mood of the occasion. His father had only just been buried and he had been preoccupied with the wellbeing of his mother; Speranza had seemed a strange new entity in his life, one that he fully intended to neglect coming to terms with; and Celeste...he had not known what to make of her at all.

Things had changed quite a bit since that night, Severus reflected. An achy feeling in his chest reminded him that he should get out of the cold night air, however, and he moved on.

When Severus returned to the manor the lights were all out save one lamp left on a small table in the entrance hallway, probably placed there for him by Constanza. He wearily took it and mounted the stairs. He could not pass by the nursery without entering, though. Outside the door he listened intently for a minute, and, hearing nothing, opened the door and stepped in.

The light from the lamp cast a comforting glow about the room as Severus set it down upon a high table near the cradle. With both hands resting on the edge of the railing he gazed down at Speranza for he knew not how long.

Eventually the door to Celeste's room opened and Celeste, who did not look as if she had yet been to bed, stepped in. "Severus," she said.

Severus looked up at her. He was not entirely unsettled at being caught by her. "Celeste," he said.

They stood side by side gazing into the cradle for some time. When Severus finally turned to look at her, he was struck by how weary she looked. In her frail stance, Severus could see something of his mother about her. An exhausted, weak frustration took him.

"You have no obligation to remain here," Severus said echoing his words of earlier, although in a much different tone.

Celeste made no reply, but instead turned her face away from Severus's and considered the black window in silence.

Emptily and wearily, Severus turned away too.

X X X

The following morning, Severus was sitting in his study with his breakfast on a tray in front of him as he read, when one of the ancient house elves came in and announced the arrival of a visitor. Fully believing it to be Dumbledore, Severus was surprised when he came to the top of the stairs and found a furious Alastor Moody waiting at the bottom for him, his errant eye swiveling in his head.

"Severus Snape," Moody said between narrow lips. "We meet again."

Severus could feel the hair rise on the back of his neck, but he kept an outward appearance of calm as he descended the stairs. "Moody," he said coolly. "How can I be of service to you?"

"You can leave your nauseating, subservient pretenses at the door for one thing, you slimy, sneaky—"Moody finished with a growl. His bulging eye stopped revolving and landed its gaze on Severus. "I know what you are. You may have hoodwinked Dumbledore, but I will not be fooled."

Severus stopped when he reached the landing and considered Moody with perplexity. Had Dumbledore told Moody already, and had Moody guessed the source of the leak? Severus found it unlikely that Dumbledore would have allowed Moody to figure it out. "I am afraid I do not know what you are talking about," Severus said.

Moody nearly spat with fury. "You can play ignorant, Snape, but I know what you're capable of. I know the people you associate with and I know the tricks you get up to. You may as well tell me now, because you will be telling the Wizemgamot while on veritaserum if you don't. Where were you last night?"

Severus, somewhat angered by now, cocked one eyebrow and repeated that he did not know what Moody was talking about.

"It was revenge, wasn't it? They tarnished the family name by prosecuting your father—this was your way of getting even. You are a shallow man, Snape. I'll ask you one more time, where were you last night?"

Severus was uncertain of what to say, not entirely knowing the situation as Moody seemed to. He felt as though he were missing something crucial. He cast about for a reply, but before he could voice it, before even he could evaluate whether or not he should bring Dumbledore into it—for telling Moody that he had been the one to alert Dumbledore could have negative consequences—a voice spoke up for him.

"He was with me."

Severus looked up in surprise to see Celeste standing halfway up the stairs, one hand gracefully curved over the railing of the banister. She was looking down her nose at Moody, who was also surprised by her presence. Severus had thought that that man would have been able to see her coming; then again, perhaps he had felt the need to keep his magical eye on Severus at all times.

"He spent the night with me, in my room," Celeste clarified. She slowly descended, pausing one step from the landing. "He is my husband, after all."

Moody was looking at her shrewdly. "Is that so?" he asked.

"Yes," was Celeste's cool reply. "Was there something in particular that you wanted, or is it customary practice among Aurors to routinely check on the matrimonial lives of former suspects?"

"Current suspects, madam," Moody corrected with a growl.

"Current? And what is my husband being charged with?" Celeste asked.

"He isn't being charged...yet."

"Then I take it you have no evidence against him. For anything."

"No. A slimy dark wizard like your husband, Mrs. Snape, is very careful about the trail he leaves behind."

"Ah, well. Slimy dark magic aside, if you have no warrant from the Ministry, you most certainly have no right to overstay your welcome here."

Moody clenched his brows, but said nothing. His eyes pierced Severus's face for a long moment before he growled and turned on his heel.

As the dark wooden doors slammed behind the Auror's form, Severus turned to his wife. "What in Salazar's name was that?"

Celeste held out a copy of the Daily Prophet, which until now had been concealed in the folds of her robes with her hand. On the front page was a photograph of the Dark Mark, hovering in the sky above a small cottage. "Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom were attacked yesterday evening. They are in St. Mungo's," she said.

Severus took the paper and gazed at it.

"But," she said, "you already knew that."

Severus looked up sharply. "What do you mean?" Celeste did not answer, but stared at him instead, long and hard.

"I was not there, if that is what you think," Severus said. "But if that is what you think, why did you lie for me?"

Celeste was silent. After a long moment, during which she seemed to find words, she said, "I felt...it was my duty, as your wife. To stand by you." Her gaze faltered and she looked down at her hands.

Severus stared at Celeste in beguilement. The words she said...They were unwarranted—and unwanted, definitely. Unwanted. There was no call for such a profession of loyalty. What on earth did this woman think she was doing, declaring such things to him? But still, the words she said...Severus wondered at what was behind them. He felt he would have legilimized her right then if only she had been making eye contact with him.

He remembered to speak. "Albus could have vouched for my innocence," he said.

"Albus Dumbledore would not have lied for you," Celeste said. "He is a good man."

Severus narrowed his eyes. "He would not have needed to lie for me, madam. It was him I was meeting with when this—"Severus brandished the paper, "—transpired." Severus tossed the paper onto the floor at their feet, spun on his heel and began to pace. Celeste let out a sigh of relief, and hearing it, Severus viewed her down-turned face surreptitiously as he walked. Had she really defended him, fully suspecting him of the allegations against him?

"Why did Moody come here, then?" she asked.

Severus scoffed. "You know as well as I do the reputation of my father—the reputation I inherited upon his death. And I can't say my profile with the law enforcement department is completely unblemished, either."

"But if you weren't implicated, they can't do anything to you."

"Wrong. They need someone to pin this to because the Longbottom's are far too popular for the culprit to go unpunished. It would reflect very poorly on the ministry. And if the—the people—"Severus stopped himself from saying Lestranges at the last minute "—responsible are not found, a scapegoat will be, and the scapegoat is whomever has a suitably poor record and cannot provide an alibi. Thus far, I fit that desciption. I cannot tell them where I was last night because it will not only incriminate myself, revealing that I was aware of the plot against the Longbottoms and yet did not alert anyone in time enough to avert disaster—which in itself is enough to place me in Azkaban—but it will also tarnish Dumbledore's reputation. Moody especially will not take it well that Dumbledore has been consorting with a former Death Eater behind his back."

Celeste stiffened at Severus's acknowledgement of his Death Eater past, but Severus did not notice.

"And so I have no real defense. There is only your word, and perhaps Dumbledore's, if he wishes to vouch for my character in general—something I am certain Dumbledore cannot afford to do for the sake of his reputation." Severus stopped pacing and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration.

Just then there was the sound of the Floo flaring up in the next room. Severus strode into the room, closely followed by Celeste. As Severus had expected, it was Dumbledore.

"Severus," Dumbledore nodded, gravely. "Celeste, my dear."

"Headmaster—the Longbottoms—"

"Yes, yes, I know, Severus," Dumbledore said in a very aged voice. "It is why I came."

"Moody was just here, accusing me of being behind it all. Were you able to alert him last night or not?"

"Yes, but unfortunately it was already too late, Severus. Too late." Dumbledore took an armchair uninvited and assumed a pose of weary resignation. "And Moody thinks it was you? You did not tell him you were with me last night, I presume?"

"No," Severus replied.

"Of course not. You have too much sense. You realize how unwise it would have been for you to tell him."

Severus did not reply. There was a tone of tentative negotiating, of talking persuasive, logical sense, in Dumbledore's voice. He wasn't merely confirming conjectures, he was laying the foundation for an argument to come, the one that would explain to Severus that he, Dumbledore, could not implicate himself. Not easily.

"Severus," Dumbledore said, "How do you want us to proceed?"

Unease set in. Dumbledore obviously had no easy, straightforward solution if he was asking for Severus's advice. He knew the Headmaster did not want to lose him—he was too valuable a tool to him, and there was always the altruistic Gryffindor streak to consider—but if there was nothing for Dumbledore to do, then...

"You can't vouch for him?" Celeste demanded from the corner.

Dumbledore and Severus turned to Celeste in surprise; they had forgotten her.

"No," Severus said, answering for Dumbledore. "This has to sort itself out some other way." Again, Severus set into pacing. "He can't speak for me in court."

Celeste was silent for a moment. "But can't he speak to the Wizemgamot—unofficially—before you are even called to appear? Aren't you on the Wizemgamot," she asked, turning to Dumbledore.

"I am, my dear. But I can't go against the procedures of justice, and that is what your suggestion would require me to do." The old man wearily adjusted his half-moon spectacles and gazed at her.

Celeste's mind was churning rapidly, a thought forming. "But wouldn't it be enough for now for Severus to remind people—Aurors and justice ministers and others— of his close ties to you? Would that not undermine suspicion?" Severus and Dumbledore looked at her perplexedly, her hypothetical question making no sense to them whatsoever. "And," Celeste continued, "Wouldn't it help if Severus demonstrate his confidence in his ability to prove his innocence?"

"What are you saying, Celeste?" Severus asked.

"Would you be able to procure an invitation to the Wizemgamot commemoration dinner tonight for Severus, Professor?" Celeste asked of Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's face slowly softened and lit up. "Quite easily, my dear."

Severus scanned back and forth between Dumbledore and Celeste, aggravated at not being a part of their mutual understanding. "What is this?"

Dumbledore twinkled merrily at Severus. "The Wizemgamot dinner tonight, Severus. There will be justice ministers, Wizemgamot members, ministry officials, and Aurors alike, all there tonight to see as you walk in with me as my guest." Dumbledore leaned back into his armchair and continued. "I will not have to speak a word for you. The gesture will say it all."

Severus searched his face, and then Celeste's too. "Will it work?"

"It may do," Dumbledore said, rising and walking up to Severus to shake his hand before leaving. "She," he said in a conspiratorial whisper as he leaned close, "is every bit as clever as she is beautiful." Severus glanced over Dumbledore's shoulder at Celeste, who had heard every word.

"I must leave now and find that invitation for you. Will you be coming?" he asked of Celeste.

"If I may, Professor. I have an invitation."

"Very well then. I will owl the invitation as soon as possible, Severus. Good-bye." With that, the Floo flared green and Dumbledore disappeared into the fireplace.

Severus and Celeste were left alone then, across the room from each other but considering one another intently. At last, Celeste broke the connection of gazes and ducked her head as she marched toward the doors of the room. She paused at the jamb. "I have to send an owl to Malfoy, letting him know that I will be going with my husband instead," she said. She then stepped from view behind the doorway.

Severus watched after her.

X X X

Lord of the Pencil : Who ARE you? A barbarian warlord? And put those sharp pointy weapons away...

Kerichi : I'm not a psych major, but if I have to be to get Severus horizontal, then so be it. Inconceivable how my lust for Snape pervades life. (Thumbs up for Mr. Darcy)

Thank you everyone else for all of the inspiring reviews. They are greatly appreciated.

Now, how would everyone feel about me starting the Third Prophecy next? Or would you prefer The Potion Master's Ward? Let me know (check my profile if you have no idea what I'm talking about).

BTW, I apologize deeply if I'm just not pulling this plot off so well (In this chapter and at the dinner party especially). I haven't been putting much effort into carefully weighing how much emphasis should go where when it comes to moments of heightened tension and importance and blah blah I have no frigging idea what I am saying. I just don't have a lot of time for fanfiction right now and my original fiction is sapping all of the grade A quality artistic juices. This baby gets the dregs that are left over. Anyways, I need sleep...glorious sellp. Tak me awaye sellp. Snnnnxxx.