Dumbledore asked all Hogwarts’ staff to come to his office for a meeting. He informed them about Draco’s condition and talked about the potion Snape and Tori had been working on. Those who hadn’t been aware of the nature of this potion were highly surprised and McGonagall looked as happy as possible, under the circumstances.

The course of action for next Saturday was the topic of discussion.

Early morning, someone had to take the potion to Voldemort at the Malfoy Mansion. Preferable, this person was to witness with his or her own eyes that Voldemort actually drank the potion. Then this person should return to Hogwarts so Harry can alert the other Aurors to begin their attack on the Mansion. By then, the Death Eaters would all be present for the initiation and this would be their only chance to wipe them out completely.

A lot could go wrong, everyone agreed on that, but there were no other options. In the meantime, the teachers would make sure that none of the students left Hogwarts, certainly not on Saturday. Dumbledore would announce that all students should remain in their common rooms that day. Hopefully all those precautions would prove to be unnecessary, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Late into the afternoon life at Hogwarts began to go back to normal. Snape had gone back to check on Draco and returned to Dumbledore’s office, saying that he didn’t seem to be in any pain anymore and was in a deep sleep. Only Tori, Snape and Dumbledore remained in the office. They had to determine who would take the potion to Voldemort.

“Naturally it will be me.” Snape concluded. “I know where he keeps his potion and if I use the invisibility cloak, no one will see me.”

Tori did not agree and fear for his safety could be heard in her voice when she pleaded: “You can’t go! Voldemort will surely sense you presence and if he or one of the Death Eaters finds you, they’ll kill you for sure!”

“They won’t find me and if they kill me after I’ve switched the potions, the mission will be successful.” On hearing these last words, Tori opened her mouth to let out a cry but her emotions prevented her from saying anything and only a rasping sound came out.

“Severus, I can see Tori’s point. You cannot be sure that you won’t be discovered before you have the opportunity to switch the potions and if Voldemort sees you there, he will most likely be suspicious about your reasons for being there and will probably not drink his potion.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

Dumbledore started “Well, I could…” but was interrupted by Tori.

“Let ME go. I can use the cloak too and if Severus tells me where the potion is stored, I can switch them and hide to see if he drinks it.”

The look of terror on Snape’s face was only a faint reflection of the paralyzing agony sliding through his body like a snake wrapping itself around his heart in a suffocating grip. “No!!!!” He screamed. “I will not allow you to do this.”

Dumbledore didn’t seem to notice the underlying emotions both volunteers were experiencing and stayed calm.

“Severus, I think Tori might have a chance. She has as much of a chance as you do to remain undetected but in case of discovery, Voldemort will not see her as a threat and will not kill her immediately. And since he does not know her, he will not know what she is doing there. Statistically, her mission is more likely to succeed than yours.”

“This is not a good plan. It has too many flaws in it. How can we be sure the potions are switched? After my last encounter with Voldemort in the Mansion, he made it impossible to apparate there, so there are no means of escape in case of detection.”

“Yes, there will be a fair amount of risk involved, but we’ve always known that and I’m sure Tori is well aware of it. Don’t underestimate the Gryffindor courage, Severus!” Dumbledore gave a faint smile. “However, we can send back-up if she’s not back before the ceremony begins.”

“By then it can be too late!” Snape felt Dumbledore had cornered him and was desperately trying to find more arguments to support his point of view. He would do anything to prevent Tori from going to that place.

“I’m prepared to take the risk.” Tori’s calm determination took Snape’s breath away. He looked at her in despair, his eyes begging her to reconsider.

“If you’re so keen on sacrificing a life, then I suggest you take mine. I’m familiar with Voldemort’s cruel games and I can withstand him long enough to accomplish the task.”

“No Severus, because of your dark mark, you are linked to Voldemort and I’m sure he’ll sense your presence before you can do anything. He hates you so much; he will not torture you but kill you instantly. Then where would we be? Besides, I don’t think Voldemort would want to miss the opportunity to show off in front of an adversary he considers no threat. My guess is, and I’m sure that since you know Voldemort, you will agree, he will force Tori to witness the initiation before he tries to hurt her. If it were to come to that, we WILL send a rescue team.”

Snape knew Dumbledore was right. He sighed deeply, knowing he couldn’t win from both Dumbledore and Tori.

Snape and Dumbledore went to Hagrid’s house once more to check how Draco was doing. At first Tori would go with them so she could join Snape in the dungeon afterwards, but when she saw Remus and Sirius by the lake, she decided to go and talk to them instead.

“Tori, how nice it is of you to drop by and see us! I hope you’ll still want to speak to us after you receive your Order of Merlin.” Sirius gave her a big smile.

“Oh, I don’t think…” Tori blushed.

“Don’t be so modest my dear, you and Severus have truly proved to be the perfect combination.” Did she imagine things or did Remus just wink at her? Apparently Sirius hadn’t noticed anything, although he turned to Remus saying: “Didn’t you have some marking to do?”

Remus sighed and walked to the castle, leaving Sirius alone with Tori. She suddenly felt a little awkward and tried to not show her uneasiness.

“Tell me, do the events planned for Saturday mean that our date is off?” Sirius asked.

“Umm…about that. Remus and I were thinking of waiting until Harry can join us. He’ll have a lot of work to do if our mission succeeds on Saturday. I suspect it won’t be until Christmas that I’ll get the chance to see Hogsmeade again.”

“Harry, Harry, who needs Harry! Girl, these young boys are no good for a woman of your brilliance. Boys are a fair bit behind in their development compared to girls, you know. Don’t you ever long for the companionship of a mature man, who can guide you through life and show you things you’ve never even dared dreaming about?” He tried to move his arms around her, slowly closing the space between them. Tori pulled back a little.

“Sirius, please don’t say those things!” her voice broke when she tried to squirm from his grip.

“Sweet Tori, all work and no play, you must allow yourself to relax sometime.” Laughing, like he was dealing with a disobedient child, he grabbed her tightly around her waist.

“No Sirius, I…” She began to panic.

“Black! Has your animagus drool blocked your ears or are you simply too full of yourself to hear the lady say that she isn’t interested?” Snape’s trademark sarcasm had never been so welcome to her.

For a moment it looked like both wizards would tear each other to pieces, but Tori prevented this by pushing Snape towards the castle, talking rapidly: “Oh, look at the time, we should be stirring the potion right now!” Snape gave Sirius another menacing look, but let himself be dragged away by her without protest.

When they entered the dungeon, they found themselves alone for the first time since Shannon interrupted their moment of passion. Seeing the scrolls of parchment and quills on the floor gave them an instant reminder of what had happened earlier that day.

Tori began picking up the mess they had made when Snape stopped her.

“Tori, we need to talk.” He sounded a bit insecure.

She kept collecting the scrolls and murmured: “Right, so you can tell me again that it didn’t mean anything at all and it was all a mistake. Yeah, right!”

Snape placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her around. There were tears in her eyes but she managed to push them back, readying herself to face another rejection from him.

“No, Tori, not quite.” She looked up at him, with hope in her eyes. “After what happened, I can no longer pretend it didn’t mean anything.” He signed deeply. “But I still believe it was a mistake and I intend to fight this attraction with all my might.”

Tori felt like she just scored a little victory, at least he was willing to face it! But she didn’t have him where she wanted him yet. “Why do you keep calling it a mistake?”

“For several reasons, first of all because I am not the right partner for you, ask anyone, they’ll agree.” He tried to joke about it, but she felt his pain when he put himself down like that.

“I’m not asking for everyone’s consent. The only opinion that counts is mine, and I think I’ve made that quite clear to you.” She was amazed at how they were able to analyze their situation so rationally and relaxed.

“It’s not just that. You see, when I saved Harry from Voldemort, my life came to an end. Maybe not technically, but that’s only a formality. Someday, some Death Eater will find me regardless of Dumbledore’s protection, but I can live with that. However, if word would spread that I had developed a special interest in a certain young witch, you can be sure that they would harm you just to get to me. That I cannot and will not live with.” While talking to her, he had taken her hands in his and looked into her eyes. “Please Tori, you cannot ask me to begin a relationship with you. By doing so I would sign your death sentence. We HAVE to try and keep our emotions under control.”

His emotional plea moved her deeply. She was at a loss for words for a moment (which didn’t happen often), understanding now why he had tried to push her away. However, this didn’t mean that she had to accept it.

“What if we defeat Voldemort on Saturday?”

“I so hope we will win. And I would love to think it will change everything, but even if Voldemort is dead, I will never be reassured. There always might be a Death Eater that manages to save himself. The risk…”

“Severus, now you are exaggerating. I appreciate your concern for my well-being, but please don’t look for excuses to get out of a commitment. If you don’t want that kind of relationship, I will not push you.” She meant every word and tried very hard not to become angry with him.

“It’s not the commitment that I fear; I don’t want to trap you. It would be better for you to find someone else.”

“We’re moving around in circles here, I thought we agreed that you would let ME be the judge of that.” He could be so irritating at times!

“You don’t understand…there are certain things I just cannot give you…”

“Name one, and don’t say ‘romance’ because I don’t give a damn about Valentines or flowers or all that other mushy stuff.”

“Children,” he whispered, “I cannot give you children.”