Walk the Shadows

throat as Lucius Malfoy stood regally before him.

Severus caught the boy before he crashed into and upset a table full of pub goers, and then shoved Harry behind him, hoping by all the gods that he wouldn't do anything stupid. Harry's breaths were mere harsh pants though, and there was no way in hell Lucius had not noticed. Taking a split second to actually think, Severus smiled genially at the elder Malfoy – on Remus, who Malfoy knew by sight, he was sure it would appear as if he were baring his teeth – and gestured for him to pass them to go into the Alley.

But Lucius was not to be dissuaded. He peered over Severus' shoulder briefly, then turned an oddly amused stare on Severus himself. 'Remus Lupin,' he said in his smooth, cultured voice. 'How good to see you again.'

Since Severus knew that the last time Lucius had seen Remus was in the Department of Mysteries where Lucius had been apprehended by Ministry personnel and sent to Azkaban, he just smiled a bit tighter and said, 'Oh, I very much doubt that.'

The boy, behind him, seemed to have come to a halt in his desperate flailing about, and had grabbed a portion of Severus' robe instead. His breaths were quieter, but whether that was from lack of oxygen or true calm, he couldn't really tell.

'Say,' Lucius continued, taking one step forward and putting himself nose to nose with Severus. The scent of his expensive cologne was cloying, so close, and, since in Remus' nose, the sense of smell was particularly sharp, Severus was actually nauseated and found himself taking more shallow breaths. Lucius' lips curved in a cold, predatory smile that made Severus want to bite his throat out, even if he was only a Polyjuiced Werewolf. 'Is that Harry Potter lurking behind you? Why, I haven't seen him for ages . . . not with clothes on, at least.'

With a snarl worthy of a Were, Severus had his wand aimed at Malfoy's heart before the man finished his taunt.

To his utter surprise, so did Harry.

The area around them cleared in a heartbeat. Wizards – especially of this particular caliber and affiliation – drawing wands in a small space was nothing anyone sane wanted to interfere with.

Severus could hear the boy's teeth grinding together, and wasn't sure exactly how the words managed to come out of his mouth, and yet . . . 'I'll kill you where you stand, Malfoy, so help me.'

Lucius had not moved, still, but the edge of his lip lifted in a sneer. 'I'd like to see you try. My lovely sister-in-law, you remember her? She has told me some unforgivably amusing tales of your failures in that arena.'

Harry's arm was shaking, and his new wand's tip juddered up and down like a snitch in a gale. 'Oh, I think I'm properly motivated this time.'

Lucius clapped his hand to his chest, just over his heart. 'Ah, you wound me, Harry. And here I thought we'd gotten along so well. Or is it just another's touch you crave? I don't believe my Lord's quite gotten over the lovely sound of your screams.'

This had gone quite far enough, Severus decided, and grabbed Harry's arm, at the same as the boy screamed, 'You filthy piece of shit!' followed by, 'Avada—'

Before he finished the damning words, Severus had Apparated them away.

---

Harry's feet had barely touched ground when he fell to hands and knees and started retching. Chocolate ice cream and toast with marmalade from breakfast, and then pink liquid and chunks of yellow, and acid that stung his throat and brought tears to his eyes. Still coughing and choking on bile, he completely lost any semblance of calm when his arms were grabbed and he was hauled to his feet again. But whoever it was let go of his arms again, real quick in favor of shoving him forward toward a wide white door with a brass knocker in the middle of it.

'Come on, now, Potter,' said a calm voice that sounded an awful lot like Remus, but couldn't be, because Remus was angry at him and wasn't here, besides . . . wherever here was. They were on a brick-walled porch of sorts, with broad white columns, covered in ivy, supporting the roof from the four corners. A set of wide stone steps led down to a gravel drive. What the hell? Harry was dizzy and disoriented, and he wondered why for a second longer . . .

And then he remembered.

Dragging a sleeve across his eyes and then his mouth, Harry staggered another step towards the door. Remus-Snape had his wand aimed at the door and gestured sharply for him to come closer, so he did. With a quick look over his shoulder, Rem . . . Snape jabbed his wand at the knocker and muttered something under his breath. The door's lock clicked, and Snape pushed the door open, then half dragged Harry inside after him.

They were in a cool, dark room with high ceilings and hexagonal windows of cut, colored glass near the very top, filtering in small bands of sunlight in shades of green, yellow, blue and red. The entryway was paneled in some kind of dark, reddish wood that smelt faintly of cedar.

The door slammed closed behind them, and Snape-Remus waved his wand a few more times. The air around them glowed with a yellow haze that faded slowly as Snape let his hand drop with a gusty sigh.

And then his head came up and he glared at Harry. Stalking towards him, Remus-Snape growled, 'You stupid child! What the hell do you think you were doing?!'

Harry backed away, keeping his own wand up to defend himself. 'I . . . I didn't think—'

'That's right! You didn't think at all! The Killing Curse? Are you completely mad?'

Harry bristled. 'He deserved to die!'

'Of course he did, you idiot, that's not the point! What do you suppose would have happened if you'd finished that little incantation, hm? Would the Ministry have just let you off because Malfoy deserved it? Perhaps told the Wizarding world that Harry bloody Potter can cast an Unforgivable in front of a dozen witnesses, and that it's bloody well fine, because according to this same Mr. Potter, the dead man was a particularly loathsome fellow?'

'No, I—'