The tall wizard opened the door to the house rather aggressively. He had to walk all the way back to the other wizard's house just to get a wand that the witch carelessly forgot. He could have apparated to the house of course but he feared for the witch's life.

If what the ghost said was true. If she really is being targeted then my magic will be traced if I apparated, he thought.

He felt sudden sympathy washing over him when he remembered the witch.

"She seemed so torn apart with fear. What did they do to her in that forest? What could have happened to change her mannerism in such a drastic way?" He asked himself in a whisper thinking out loud.

"Maybe she felt the same fear the night her boyfriend died. I once heard from Pomfrey that someone who had depression can be triggered by anything, even if it was minor. Florina isn't usually as scared or timid, she is a Slytherin for crying out loud! Yes, that must be it. Whatever happened in that forest reawakened that horrible memory within her, poor Florina."

He took a deep breath and walked inside the house only to find that the lights were out.

"Great!" he exclaimed in anger, "Just my rotten luck, how will I find it now?"

"Lumos Maxima!" the tip of his wand ignited, lighting up his surroundings for just a brief moment. He moved forward in the dark, taking baby steps to not collide with any piece of furniture. He felt the anxiety and panic rising within him, something that rarely happens. A sudden thought plagued his mind,

She needs me, I cannot leave her all alone. The ghost said I have to be close to her at all times –

"God Florina!" he exclaimed when his knee collided with the coffee table. He winced in pain but that didn't stop him from moving forward. "Why did you have to forget your wand? Even better, why did you force me to go and bring it for you?"

He remembered her tearful face and her pleading looks and the same sympathetic feeling washed over him again.

"I don't like to see you in that state Florina," he spoke out loud as he moved slowly to the kitchen counter "You are a Slytherin, your head should always be held high. How I wish you were here and told you that face to face."

He sighed calming himself down. He hoped that she had left her wand in the kitchen, since it was the last place he saw her at and felt angrier when it wasn't there.

The wizard stopped in his tracks taking a few calming breaths and tried to think rationally. "It will take me ages if I tried to find it with my tiny wand light. The muggle lights always have a switch to turn them on. I have to find that instead."

Nodding to himself, he began caressing the walls hoping to somehow stumble upon a light switch. He moved rather quickly across the walls of the living room shinning his wand at the walls. After a while, he was still unsuccessful and his anger returned.

"Dammit!" Severus cursed out loud "Why is he so dependent on muggle electricity? He is a wizard for crying out loud! I cannot find the switch to turn on these useless lights."

He moved away from the front door and stood in the center of the living room, his back to the door. Severus placed his hands on his sides in exhaustion.

"It is not in the living room. It is not in the kitchen, where else is it supposed to be Florina?" He asked in anger. "Please don't tell me I have to search under the couches next, that seems the most prominent option at this point."

Severus found that if he spoke out loud to himself, it would help him brainstorm for ideas. Usually, he does it when he is alone but cannot help accidentally mumbling a few words when he is around people.

He crouched down, shinning his wand under the sofa, silently pleading for the wand to be there. The wizard was so focused that he didn't noticed the front door opening behind him. Since it was almost dark out, the light coming from the open door was scarce if none at all. That was one of the reasons Severus didn't notice the door opening.

In the doorway, stood a short person carrying something in their hands. Their height was short to the point where if they were noticed from a far, they would be thought of as a preteen.

They began to slowly move towards the crouched wizards as silently as they could to not alert him of their presence. Severus was totally oblivious of his surroundings and stood in anger when he couldn't find the wand under the sofa.

"Where else could it be?" he felt his face fuming red with rage and disbelief.

The short person got even closer to the wizard who had his back to them, the object in their hand giving a shimmer from the little light emanating from the wand. As they were right behind Severus, they quickly brought down the object they were holding closer to him but missed him by a few inches.

Severus moved back to the kitchen in a hurry, making the person immediately move out the way avoiding collision. They swiftly moved behind Severus again, looking for another chance.

The short human was carrying a kitchen knife and smirked when they got their chance. They thought, you won't get away from me this time. My Overlord will be pleased.

**********

Note: Rose's real name is Rosaline but she likes to be called Rose for short. But whenever she has a conversation with her subconscious, I like to distinguish between them so I gave them two names,

Rosaline = the fairy "Rose".

Rose = the fairy's subconscious.

Rosaline felt the strong winds lifting her human form with ease as she soared the night sky.

"Do you think we can get there in time Rose?" she asked her subconscious and it nodded back at her.

"Yes, we can and we will Rosaline," the fairy's subconscious reassured her. "But I feel like our speed got slower, why don't we try to break the limit on your powers. The human body you are in is definitely limiting them. Transform yourself into your true form Rosaline."

"I cannot!" the fairy responded "I am on Earth remember. I am allowed to only break those bounds when I am beyond this planet."

"Since when did we care about the rules Rosaline?" the fairy's subconscious mocked her in anger "We broke a hundred or so rules, another one won't matter at all."

"This is different Rose," the fairy explained "there is a reason why I am not allowed to use my powers fully on Earth. Those powers are beyond this planet, I don't know what might happen if they were unleashed. It could go as far as disrupt the balance of the entire universe if I am not careful. And honestly with my emotional instability, I could disrupt the balance."

Her subconscious nodded in understanding. "So what do we do now? How do we get to Severus faster?"

"I..." Rosaline hesitated "I...I need you to lend me your power, all of it. We might not be able to communicate for a few days but don't worry, I will try to get by without you."

"That is a great idea Rosaline!" her subconscious exclaimed nodding. The fairy felt a surge of a powerful halo of white light encasing her entire being as she flew forward. When the halo disappeared, it left in its wake wings that were beating more rapidly, carrying the fairy's human form faster than ever before.

Rosaline was pleased and smiled to herself, "Thank you Rose." Her subconscious didn't respond and the fairy knew that it will stay that way for the next few days.

The fairy sighed as her mind wandered to Severus.

Who would be after him though? Why would anyone try to kill him? She thought silently as she narrowly missed a thick cloud.

"Isn't it horrible enough that he had to live through a horrifying childhood? Why is this human world so cruel and unforgiving? Severus has the kindest heart I have ever felt, Florina felt that too. He doesn't show it and probably never will but that doesn't negate it. Please be alive Severus. I won't find another human as good as him for my carrier."

She frowned, "Not even that human David, God I hate that human! He is treating my carrier well no doubt but that doesn't erase the past. If Florina forgot, I never will..."

The fairy's speed was diminishing, a sudden thought dawning on her.

"The human in my vision wasn't a short human," Rose whispered as she recalled the vision once more "The person was way too short for a normal adult, almost like if it was a child and that doesn't make sense. It...it might have been...oh merciful fairies, it cannot be!" Rose gasped doubling her speed.

**************

Severus kneeled down on the counter, letting out an exasperated breath. He was still holding onto his lit wand banging it on the counter repetitively deep in thought.

"This is ridiculous!" he whisper yelled to himself "I will just go back to her and say I didn't find it, it was her fault after all for leaving it. Besides, she needs me beside her and that's the top priority. I should have never left her side, what does that fool Dickenson know about protecting her? He is just two years older than her!"

The short human behind Severus saw that it was their opportunity and smirked to themselves as their devilish smirk grew. It is now or never, they thought.

Suddenly, the front door was opened forcefully making it almost come out of its hinges. Both Severus and the person turned to the door and to their surprise, nothing was behind it.

The short human however saw what opened the door, the wings and silver glow of a fairy cannot be missed by them after all. When the person saw Rose, they shrieked startling Severus and making him turn in urgency.

What he saw next had his eyes wide as saucers. At the same time, hurdling footsteps could be heard coming towards the front door. It was David and he was panting, silently hoping he would find Florina in the house.

When he too spotted the short human carrying the knife, he was frozen in place. He recognized the human and so did Severus.

"No please don't!" Rose screamed to the short Human "How could you even think about it, he is your be –"

Severus slowly got closer to the short human not minding the deathly weapon in their hand. He smiled down at her and whispered, "Was this really just a trick to get me here and kill me... Florina."

"It was not a short human," Rose thought to herself, "it was Florina sitting in a wheelchair."

"I am right here Florina, standing in front of you," Severus said as he got closer to the witch who still had a knife in her hand "why would you stab me in the back when you got my chest right here?"

"Snape, are you mad!" David yelled not daring to move from his location "It is no time to play the hero. Look at her carefully. This... this cannot be Florina, this is a clear imposter. This –"

"Silence!" Florina growled and smirked at Severus. She slowly rose from her wheelchair, the sound of her weakened limbs cracking underneath her made everyone in the room cringe.

"Florina!" David exclaimed and ran to her but only to get hit by a curse from her wand, pushing him to the wall immobile.

Her eyes were fixated on the potion's master the entire time, smirking intensely at him. Severus couldn't take his eyes off her either, scanning her face. Deep down, he wanted to believe the person in front of him trying to kill him wasn't Florina. He wanted to believe it was just an imposter disguised as the witch or maybe someone put the imperious curse on her.

But he knew this was the real witch, fully sane and fully...her. As a skilled spy, he trained himself to differentiate between an imposter or someone who drank a polyjuice potion and the real person. And the witch standing in front of him, her legs cracking under her weight the longer she stands, is the real witch.

"Please, please Florina," Rose pleaded as she got closer to her inch by inch. "This is your best friend, how could you even think about hurting him? How could –"

"Silence fairy!" Florina growled once more turning to Rose. To Severus, Florina looked the same as she always looked, her ocean blue eyes shimmering dimly in Severus's wand light.

But to Rose, those blue orbs were replaced with raging blood red, hungry for blood. Hungry for murder. What laid behind the red orbs was long gone. There was no love or sympathy behind the red orbs, only hunger.

"Oh my Lord Florina!" Rose cried as she stared at the red orbs "This...this cannot be. You are not his. You will never be his and you know it. Please don't –"

Florina suddenly growled in pain, her fairy's words hitting her hard. She blocked her ears to not hear more of it. Rose took the opportunity of the witch's distraction and flew to her carrier. She hugged Florina close not minding the weapon in her hand.

The fairy spoke softly to her carrier, "This is not you Florina. You won't turn to the evil side, do you hear me? I won't let you do Lucifer's bidding, you are stronger than that. You are –"

"ENOUGH!" her carrier screamed and pushed the fairy away from her.

With a swift move, Florina turned the knife to herself, stopping just below her neck. Severus was petrified in place, his hands and legs frozen. He wanted to immediately take the knife out of her hands but he knew he couldn't. Any wrong move and he could end up killing the witch, the witch that wanted to kill him a few moments ago.

"Florina..." he began moving closer towards her but stopped abruptly when she sank the knife deeper into her flesh.

Her expression suddenly changed. The evil smirk that adorned her face was gone and replaced with pain and agony. She spoke in a thick voice, "I-I am sorry Severus. I-I have to kill her...be-before He kills you."