Klaus stood in the doorway, an obnoxious smirk plastered to his face. He towered over us even when he crouched in front of Imperio and I.

"You have a visitor, sweethearts."

"Who might that be?" Imperio asked strongly. I was surprised that the mere pain of being here and being tortured hadn't gotten to her. Within my first days, my first minutes even, I'd been completely distraught.

"A blonde."

From behind him appeared not Draco Malfoy but Luna Lovegood. I frowned at her slightly. She looked different than she did when she was in school, but who didn't?

She approached us, whispering softly, "They thought it'd be too obvious if they sent Draco in here, so I had to come here. We're going to get you out, you know."

"S-Sev-"

Luna grinned at me gently. "He's alright as well. A little bit bruised up but he managed to get out with Draco's help."

I nodded thankfully. Imperio did her magic again and we were soon both untied.

"I'm not sure how to go about this," Imperio shrugged. "Klaus is always on patrol."

"How do you know?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I've been here a few hours."

"He starts patrolling at exactly five am. Stops at twelve thirty for a break, continues at one thirty and goes on until approximately eight thirty five."

"Observant," Imperio said with a roll of her eyes.

I scoffed. "Do you think I've had anything better to do than count the minutes between his visits to me? He always comes at seven thirty in the morning, eleven, just before his break, one thirty, three thirty five and then quarter to seven. His last visit is always at eight o'clock sharp."

"Alright, alright."

Luna smiled at us awkwardly. She nodded towards the door. "It's twelve forty now. If we hurry, we might not be spotted."

My legs shook and tried to give in as we ran, but I kept going. I followed Luna and finally we got outside.

"You!"

I turned in panic to see Klaus rushing towards us with an enraged expression. He was catching up, fast. We picked up the pace and I ran into Severus' shaking arms just quick enough to apparate with him.

"Verita," he whispered in my ear once we landed on a field full of decaying daisies. I looked around with a frown.

I studied him carefully before asking him anything. He looked untouched other than the massive circular bruise forming on his cheek. I looked at it softly and considered myself lucky that I didn't have such a wound - not anymore, thanks to Imperio.

I leaned into him further. "Severus, are you alright?"

"Are you?" He shot back, ignoring my question. I glanced at him briefly and he answered, "I'm close to unharmed."

"As am I," I nodded quickly. "Thanks to Imper-"

I looked around but my prison mate was nowhere to be seen. I frantically searched for her but only Luna was nearby, about twenty feet away. She was disentangling the knots from her long, platinum hair with her fingers.

I called out to her and she rushed over with a solemn look on her features.

"I'm sorry," she muttered under her breath. "I'm not sure what happened but I'm afraid Klaus must have grabbed her. She let go of me at the last second."

Luna gestured to nail marks, which were making her bleed, from her upper arm all the way down to her forearm. In a reaction to her apparent pain, I winced. Severus was quick on the uptake and healed her.

"Thank you," she replied gratefully. "I best be off now. Father is probably awaiting my return."

I nodded and thanked her. Hugging her goodbye, she left. I turned to Severus.

"Did Draco not come?" I asked quietly. Severus shook his head, his hair falling into his eyes. I pushed it back gently.

"No, he stayed to ensure that Narcissa was safe."

"She is, I presume?"

"Yes," he nodded. I took a hold of his hand.

After a pause, I asked, "Well, where are we meant to go now? We aren't safe anywhere."

Severus smiled sadly. "I'll keep you safe this time."

I shook my head.

"What?" He replied, raising a dark eyebrow.

"You need to focus on keeping yourself safe."

Severus scoffed in a way that represented the ex-teacher's old habits. "You are my priority, Verita."

"And you're mine."

"I suppose we had better work on keeping each other safe, in that case," Severus suggested with a subtle shrug. I nodded along to his words, squeezing his hand tightly.