Always Book 3 (Severus Snape Love Story)

Chapter 12: The War Has Begun

A/N: Okay so I am skipping about how the trio searchs for the horcruxes and going straight into Part 2 of the Deathly Hallows just because I am lazy and dont want to write all that. However I will have some flashbacks and some things in this chapter so bear with me. We only have after this chapter 3 more story chapters and 2 non-story chapters. Before you guys lose your cools I am going to write a fourth book based on the lives of Sallie, Salazar and Heather. And just to give you some juicy gossip I think I am going to have Severus and Rhiannon have one or two more children, so be on the look out for that either in this book or the next. Have a GREAT day:)

Third Person POV (Flashback):

The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane. For a second they stood quite still, wands directed at each other's chests; then, recognizing each other , they stowed their wands beneath their cloaks and started walking briskly in the same direction.

"News?" asked the taller of the two.

"The best," replied Severus Snape. The lane was bordered on the left by wild, low-growing brambles, on the right by a high, nearly manicured hedge. The men's long cloaks flapped around their ankles as they marched.

"Thought I might be late," said Yaxley, his blunt features sliding in and out of sight as the branches of overhanging tress broke the moonlight.

"It was a little trickier than I expected. But I hope he will be satisfied. You should confident that your reception will be good?" Snape nodded, but did not elaborate. They turned right, into a wide driveway that led off the lane. The high hedge curved into them, running off into the distance beyond the pair of impressive wrought-iron gates barring the men's way. Neither of them broke step; In silence both raised their left arms in a kind of salute and passed straight through, as though the dark metal were smoke.

The yew hedges muffled the sound of the men's footsteps. There was a rustle somewhere to their right; Yaxley drew his wand again, pointing it over his companion's head, but the source of the noise proved to be nothing more than a pure-white peacock, strutting majestically along the top of the hedge

"He always did himself well, Lucius. Peacocks . . . " Yaxley thrust his wand back under his cloak with a snort.

A handsome manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive, lights glinting in the diamond-paned downstairs windows. Somewhere in the dark garden beyond the hedge a fountain was playing. Gravel crackled beneath their feet as Snape and Yaxley sped toward the front door, which swung inward at their approach, though nobody had visibly opened it.

The hallway was large, dimly light, and sumptuously decorated, with a magnificent carpet covering most of the stone floor. The eyes of the pale-faced portraits on the walls followed Snape and Yaxley as they strode past. The two men halted at a heavy wooden door leading into the next room, hesitated for the space of a heartbeat, then Snape turned the bronze handle. The drawing room was full of silent people, sitting at a long and ornate table. The room's usual furniture had been pushed carelessly up against the walls. Illumination came from a roaring fire beneath a handsome marble mantelpiece surmounted by a gilded mirror. Snape and Yaxley lingered for a moment on the threshold. As their eyes grew accustomed to the lack of light, they were drawn upward to the strangest feature of the scenes an apparently unconscious human figure hanging upside down over the table, revolving slowly as if suspended by an invisible rope, and reflected in the mirror and in the bare, polished surface of the table below it. He seemed unable to prevent himself from glancing upward every minute or so.