Revelio Lorien Eden
It was a very dark and stormy night ..well, it was...and Hermione was alone at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. She wasn't supposed to be alone. Luna was supposed to have come, but as most times, her father became ill and needed her.
Hermione and Harry were In Hiding. There were still Death Eaters hunting them, so they been under what felt like house arrest for months and months. Harry had gone to the Burrow for the night, but Hermione wasn't going to the Burrow these days, not since she and Ron had broken up. It didn't take long for them to break up, but he still wasn't quite ok with it yet, so she was giving him space.
She just sent off the owl assuring Luna that she'd be fine. She was fine alone. She'd been there alone before. ..with Kreacher. No longer trying to kill her, but still creepy Kreacher. Though the stir crazy was going to be the end of her. She was so bored.
Just as she was just heading to the kitchen, contemplating what to do with her free night, Crookshanks on her heals, she heard the pop of a portkey just out the front door. No one used the front door and no one was due to come. Professor McGonagall came on Thursdays for the Order meeting and Molly came then and on Monday to bring them groceries. Everyone else was supposed to only come on Thursday or send an owl. No One was to use the front door anymore. Someone was using the muggle key.
The door burst open banging against the wall, bringing with it the wind and rain of the storm. The wind enveloped great black woolen capes and robes, sending the hood of the outer cloak in a straight up point, a perfect evil dark wizard from Hermione's muggle childhood fairytales. The raging storm and the slamming door woke the hateful Mrs. Black who started yelling her insults and taunts. Hermione looked at the face of the intruder. A far more pale and gaunt and fearsome Professor Snape stood in the doorway. The dead Professor Severus Snape. Crookshanks became Halloween cat, hissed and ran up the stairs. Kreacher appeared in front of Hermione and just as quickly disappeared again.
Dead Professor Snape.
Dead
Professor Snape.
"What are you doing here? ..supposed to be at the Burrow", he yelled over the chaos.
"What ..:" she stammered, "You're.."
She had brought her wand up but he had flung the door closed and strode passed her to Mrs Black's portrait. "My Lady, Would you please cease?"
She stopped screaming and looked at him. While she sized him up, he shut the curtain.
"Sir, are you really here?" She tentatively asked.
He turned, business like, "Of course, you daft girl. Now, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the Burrow. "
She knew she should be doing something. She should stun him and tie him up or disarm.. he had no wand drawn. It couldn't be him, but she knew it was and that she wasn't in danger. He looked terrible. He looked terrifying. He was wet. His hood had slipped back and his hair was long and messy. He was unshaven and had deep dark circles under his eyes. He was wearing a black muggle suit jacket under what looked like his old school robes and his cloak, but two buttons were missing and the shirt was open and no cravat. She could see the red, raised scars on his neck. In his disarray, he looked more terrifying than before, even though now she knew he had been on their side and she wasn't really scared, not really.
"Miss Granger," he barked, and she jumped. His voice was different, a little gravelly, though more like when you've been reading all weekend and haven't spoken. Not like you'd had it ripped out by a snake and died. It had the same authoritative punch that got her adrenalin up, though.
"Sir. I, uh... I live here, Sir."
"Yes, but you are supposed to be at the Weasleys'-"
"and you are supposed to be dead!"
"Tone, Miss Gra-
"Sir! There was a funeral. "
"I ...did you see a body?" She shook her head. "Not very thorough. I need some books. You were supposed to be-"
"Yes, at the Burrow."
"I need some books out of my room and I'll need to stay here -" He stopped and pointed at the desk in the hall.
"Is that out of my room?" and turned and went up the stairs.
"Your room?"
He went up the stairs to the the third floor landing and into what was now Hermione's room.
"Where are the things from this room?" He demanded.
"There wasn't anything in here, only a cloak. It's in the wardrobe upsta-"
"The books. The cloak is of no importance. I didn't leave anything personal here. I only need to look at some of the books ."
"The books are in the drawing room except for the ones I see you've already found in my bookshelf. That one is mine! "
He had already tossed his wet cloaks on the end of her bed and had been going through her books and pulling out the ones he wanted.
"And really," she ventured, "you did leave quite a trail. -Sir.", she hastily added.
He stopped with the books and looked at her.
"We've had loads of time on our hands. We've cleaned the whole house top to bottom, moving furniture even, if you notice. So, when I was really bored, I decided to use .. um.. a Revelio on these teacups. This one here, with the pretty gold rim.. It was a gold cauldron.. " She was looking at him, for his reaction.
His chin shot up and he looked down his nose at her. "That's not possible."
Yes!
It was true, as far as anyone knew, revelio charms were very unreliable and a revelio on a transfigured object and a potion was impossible. As far as anyone knew, but Hermione had been very bored and she had tweaked it and combined it with other spells in different ways until it worked, settling on Scarpin's Revelaspell /Revelio Specialis Hybrid. No one even knew, except Harry, who was very tired of hearing about it.
"And it was used - the last potion made, here actually- a weakened veritaserum."
"How could you possibly know that?" He looked angry and so intrigued. She knew that look. It meant he knew she had the answer!
"..and that one copper and pain potion", pointing to a pink teacup now holding a succulent plant." and that one-"
"Miss Granger," It was the warning voice. She'd better get on with it. She took the last teacup out of the window and set it on the bed. It had a pencil stub in it. "Revelio specialis linementum", and the teacup turned into a silver cauldron with a wooden stirring rod.
"Humph", was his reply, but she was satisfied anyway. She knew she had impressed him, so she asked again,
"Sir? Where have you been?" she pleaded.
His manner changed instantly. He was no longer impressed. He curled his lip in a silent snarl and turned his back on her. He finished with her bookshelf and turned to leave the room.
"Take these to the drawing room", he handed her half the books and left.
"Yes, Sir" she answered politely.
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She put the books on the work table in the drawing room and left him to make tea. When she came back, she saw him angrily slam a wand down on the table and then reach into his coat and pull out three more wands. He tried the spell with the second wand. Ironically, also a revelio, this one to find words in a scroll, she thought, but he was doing it wrong, using it on books for one thing.. if she was right and she knew she was. The books were acting strange even taking that into consideration. Hermione came in with the tea levitating before her to give him warning.
Sir? " Obviously questioning the wands.
"No concern of yours", he snapped. He tried the next wand and nothing at all happened. "Bloody-!" He slammed that wand down and then noticed Hermione again. He sighed and answered her.
" I haven't been able to find a wand that works properly for me. Some of these work, some of the time, for some tasks." He tried again. "and none of them for many".
"Whose wands are they?"
A Pause, "You don't want to know."
"There are more upstairs."
"More?"
"Wands. There's a box. There are five or six in it. "
"Indeed. Where?"
"Top of the stairs. After Buckbeak, we never wanted that room anymore so we use it for storage. I has all kinds of things. Would you like to try them?"
He nodded and she led the way, filling the silence with nervous rambling.
" We found boxes of things from all the Blacks, of course, and well, Harry's parents, because I guess this is where Professor Lupin put all of Harry's family things and anything we didn't want to ..deal with, we just put in Buckbeak's room. It's kind of a mess now, and I'm not exactly sure where the Wand Box is. "
It was strange talking to Professor Snape (Dead Professor Snape. No. Not dead) like he was just any other person. Especially mentioning Harry's mum and dad. She knew, like everyone else, all about the Professor loving Harry's mum and the big falling out but the most important thing she knew was that Professor Snape had sworn to Dumbledore to protect Harry and that he had risked his life for years to fulfill his promise and had ultimately saved them all many times over, including delivering them the Sword of Gryffindor (as she had suspected!). She also knew killing Dumbledore had all been part of the plan. She opened the door and was relieved to notice it no longer smelled of Buckbeak.
"The Wand Box is a wooded box, with a hinged lid, carved with unicorns."
As they looked through boxes and in wardrobes, she couldn't help but marvel and she knew it was true- she had saved him. The boys had been urging her to hurry, yelling at her to 'come on', but she spent a few minutes with her dying potions professor. She'd known he'd been on their side all along. Well, she hadn't known, but she had Known. At that time she had been almost 100% positive he had delivered the sword. Her charm had said so. He had saved their lives, at the very least, from Professor Lupin and she believed he was trying to protect she and Luna when he had locked them in his office with Professor Flitwick... though Ron insisted he was just getting them out of the way.
The first thing she had done when Snape left the castle was ransack the blasted open store room for potions she thought might be useful in the coming days. Professor McGonagall had also given her two precious bottles of the anti-venom. In the Shrieking Shack she had shoved three bezors down his throat and poured in two bottles of blood replenisher and one bottle of the anti-venom before the boys pulled her away.
"Sir?" She was going to ask how he survived again, she just wanted to hear it, but when she looked over at him he was looking at a picture. She knew the picture. She had put it in the box. It was of a little girl with green eyes like Harry and long red hair who Hermione knew was Lily and a little dark haired boy, who she now realized was Snape. It was a muggle polaroid, not moving. They were standing next to each other holding up muddy hands. Both smiling. Big, happy little kid grins.
"You should keep it"
"It's not yours to give" He dropped it back in the box as if it meant nothing.
"There's another in the box and he'd want to you to have it. He doesn't even know it's you. I don't think, anyway. Actually, there is a whole box for you.. or about you. ..." She rummaged around and just as she was sure he was building up to a "don't presume to know.." speech, she pulled out a shoe box and handed it to him. He opened the lid and looked inside. She knew he would see one of his fourth year notebooks, a small bundle of muggle letters and a smaller roll of scrolls. She knew they were letters Lily had written him from her muggle summer camp and notes they had written to each other at Hogwarts. He put the lid on the box and walked out of the room with it.
The Wand Box had been under the Snape's Letters box, so Hermione was just coming out of the room when Professor Snape was coming back from her room.
"Professor?"
"I have no place to go, Miss Granger." He looked lost, clutching the box to his chest with one hand and holding his retrieved wet robes in the other.
Vulnerable. Not Fearsome Professor Snape, but just a sad man. A man without a place to hang is cloak.
"Would you be alright with Regulus's room?"
"That would be adequate." He stared at her shoes.
She started to led the way to the top floor, but he stopped her.
"I know the way. I don't wish to be disturbed" He turned and went back up the stairs.
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In the kitchen some time later, Hermione was working on a complicated potion; a chocolate soufflé. She had just put it in the oven when Professor Snape came in. He looked surprised to see her. She was struck again, by how bad he looked, better now that he wasn't wet and angry, but still unwell.
"Are you ok, Professor?"
"Ok?" he sneered.
"You look, so… I can get some clean clothes..of Harry's or-" He looked up, angry now. Professor Snape, again.
"I don't need you mothering me! Your meddling. Do you all think you know me now? Did you get a good laugh over the letters? "
"Sir?"
"and the memories. I'm sure you all have had good sport over them! " He was scary, now. Almost ranting. Advancing on her.
"No, Sir." Hermione backed up.
"and his invasion of my privacy. His hilarious father? Did he tell you all about that?! My many humiliations?" At that his voice cracked and he broke eye contact finally.
"No! Sir. No! It wasn't like that at all! " Unwilling to be bullied ever again, Hermione took a step forward, but lost her anger when he went back to looking so sad.
He took a step back and looked at the ground.
"You were Dead. Both of you." she said gently, " There is no fault in Harry reading the letters. It's his mother, Professor. We read a few of Lily's letters from when you were children, but when she was older, it was .. well ,too weird for Harry. He put them aside. They went in The Room."
He didn't reply, but was under control again. She didn't mention that she had read his notebook many times over. It was full of drawings and bits of muggle poetry. Notes on potions and projects that, even as a fourth year, were interesting to Hermione. Naturally, she had read all of the letters. More that once. They were sweet. Mostly boring, innocent kid stuff, really.
She went on, "Only Kingsley and Professor McGonagall know all the memories. I..umm and Ron and ..possibly Ginny" she added quickly, "er, we know about the occulmency ..and we think Harry's dad was a right ass. " He looked up. She took a deep breath and continued on when he stayed silent.
"I don't know what you mean about the invasion of your privacy. You were Dead!
Harry's said nothing but good about you. Ever since he found out you were on our side. He's even got you off with the Wizengamot. They wanted a post-mortem conviction, whatever that is-. But now, you are 'Assumed Innocent' with all charges dropped. "
That got his attention. With a raspy bark of bitter laughter, "Hardly. They're just waiting for me to get sloppy, so they can arrest me. "
" No! Don't you read the papers?" She went to bin next to the stove and pulled up several weeks worth of papers.
"The last paper I read had you and Weasley getting married, Potter and Miss Weasley knocked up, my house in Cokeworth burnt to the ground and Dolohov keeping them on a merry chase", He scoffed.
"Well. That was months ago. The house was burned down, but you're right about the rest. It's rubbish. Dolohov died at Hogwarts- Professor Flitwick got him." She shuffled through the papers for a while and then turned to Professor Snape.' What's the revelio you couldn't do?" It should work on papers, she thought.
He looked down his nose at her and snapped, " I could have done- " he broke off, defeated and told her the incantation and showed her the wand movement even though his current wand only vibrated and didn't even ruffle the papers.
The spell worked perfectly for her and she was holding up for him an old Daily Prophet with his sneering face on the front cover- "Unexpected Hero", it said under his picture. The article went on to say that Harry Potter had come forth with information, clearing Snape of all charges and naming him hero. He had even been awarded the Order of the Merlin. How it was possible that this information made Snape look even more beaten, she did not know.
"So, Potter just forgives all, hmm?"
She thought for a moment. No more lies. "Not all." She pushed a cup of tea across the table to him. "Would you like to look at the wands?"
In the drawing room, Snape took the red colored wand Hermione held out to him. So far, she had handed him two light colored wands, one slightly too long, one slightly too short, a blond one that did nothing whatsoever, an ebony one, which had fit pretty nicely in his hand and this red one which also felt less hostile than any in his current arsenal. She had explained that they found all the wands in different rooms, in desks or dresser drawers and one in a pantry cabinet, one in the back yard and no one could tell them who any of them belonged to. The last wands she pulled out were tied together with a red ribbon.
"..and then there are these. We found them on top of some books in Sirius's room. I think they belong together, though."
"Yes. I suppose they do. This one is Lily's. I expect this one is Potter's". He said it very matter-of-factly. He ran his finger along the lighter wood which he indicated as Lily's and put them back in the box. " The ebony will do."
"Leftover spaghetti?"
" I beg your pardon?"
"Dinner. It's what's for dinner."
" That smell is not leftover spaghetti"
"No, that's chocolate soufflé. Would you like that for dinner?"
They sat in the kitchen and ate in silence. A moan of delight did escape him after the first bite, but he managed to maintain decorum the rest of the 'meal'. After the soufflé, while Hermione was warming up the spaghetti, she got the nerve to ask, "Will you tell me how you've survived, Sir?"
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Chocolate was apparently the tongue lubricant he needed.
"The ever curious Hermione Granger."
"Yes, Sir" she confirmed. She had looked terrified since he gotten there. She'd only been her swotty self when she was showing off her new revelios, which were quite impressive and showing him up with wand work. Having the girl under foot for the night would complicate things. His plans for a simple covert- Look at the Books, Work out the Arithmancy, Finish the Potion and Disappear Forever had been ruined when he opened the door to find Granger. Now he had a working wand, he would simply indulge her curiosity and obliviate her as he had done with the nurse at the clinic and Filius. He couldn't leave. He had nowhere to go. Why hadn't he confirmed with Minerva that no one would be here? Foolish! He'd been out of touch for weeks, though. Maybe more. He had missed at least two rendezvous. Had it been so long? Two months on that paper. Had he actually lost track of time? Well, that was the plan, was it not? Even to disappear from Minerva. He'd been living as a Muggle, going from safe house to safe house never knowing if they were truly safe for him, or would even open for him. Never staying for more that a few days. Hiding from everyone. He had nothing to lose, he may as well tell her. The souffle' was delicious. She had saved his life.
"I didn't. I died." He left it there for drama and as her eyes widened he continued,
"I died briefly but, despite trying to choke me to death with bezors, some resourceful person filled me full anti-venom and blood replenisher, dragging me back to this.. life." You wouldn't know anything about that? Hmm?" At that he looked her right in the eye.
She kept quiet. He obviously knew it was her and wasn't pleased. She wasn't sure if he was angry that she wasted precious V-killing time saving him or the saving him part itself.
"I know it wasn't you because you had a wholly different responsibility on that night, uses for the precious potions you carried with you, correct? Potions that were to be used in case Potter- The Savior- needed them." He said 'Potter' with such feigned awe.. just like The old Professor Snape.
"and then what?" She'd go with asking questions.
" and then, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick found me and took me to a pre-arranged safe house with pre-arranged medi-witches on stand by – not for me actually, I just got ..lucky.
You see, Miss Granger, I'm not a ghost. I'm in hiding just like you. Unlike you, I don't have a place to hide, so .." He left off with a slow exhale and a gesture around the room "here I am, in a supposed empty safe house."
She handed him his spaghetti. She had saved Severus Snape's life.
"What were you looking for in the books?"
"None of your business"
"maybe I could help"
"doubtful"
"but not impossible"
He only arched an eyebrow and went back to eating.
The rest of the meal was in silence, though Hermione was dying (DYing ) to ask him questions about his part in the war, things he may or may not have known, details of spy work as well as some potions question she'd come up with in the last couple of years. No, though. She'd let him have some peace.
After dinner, Snape, to her surprise, washed the dishes. "You don't use magic?"
" Hm." he grunted "The Trace and the wands, I haven't been able to. I've almost forgotten I could" He actually huffed out an almost laugh. Hermione absentmindedly chatted about Molly and what house keeping was better with or without magic and things of that nature until they found themselves up the two flights of stairs and back in the drawing room.
".. so turns out, Filch is right. It was just easier with the mop and bucket." she shut up abruptly when she noticed he had stopped and was staring at her.
"Quite through? Yes. I'll need this room for the evening, Miss Granger. If you would leave me." He request/informed her.
"Oh!" she tried not to seem too desperate, but it would be fascinating to actually work with Professor Snape. And she was sooooo bored. " I thought maybe-"
"No"
"-I could help you find whatever- "
"No"
"-you were looking for in the books. You know, I've tweaked that revelio for books, yours is ancient, better for scrolls-"
That did it.
"What?! Are you the bloody authority on revelio now, Granger?!" he bellowed. " Are you going to teach me now? .." He ranted and raved about her 'know it all' status and that she could never just not be the smartest in the room and how eternally annoying she was and as he was yelling, though the yelling itself felt really good, he was realizing that the spell he was using was wrong and that she was right. He also knew he couldn't do that much magic anyway without setting off the Trace. He'd be looking the words up the old fashioned way. Of course, she knew the proper spell. She'd probably figured it out by her third year. He felt absolutely mortified he'd never bothered.
Not only that, she was a genius with arithmancy. He knew this because Septima could never shut the bloody hell up about her. The potion could take half as long if she did the numbers. The final straw- he'd have to be so fast to be done with the potion before they traced him. Damn him to hell, he needed her. As he was thinking all of this he had stopped yelling and was actively staring at the girl. She looked terrified again, naturally. He didn't feel as rejuvenated as yelling at a student used to make him feel. It used to recharge him. Now it felt petty. It was frustrating that he had lost his temper, really. He didn't want to scare her. That wasn't necessary anymore. That life was over.
He had noticed a change in himself. He was still looking over his shoulder at all times. Still hiding and there were still a lot of people he wanted, not just in Azkaban, but dead-no chance of coming back. He still yelled at strangers and raved at inept shopkeepers But, he also felt softer toward smiling little children on the street, toward Minerva- his now forsaken only contact, only ally, only friend for so long and softer toward.. he scoffed to think of it.. humanity in general. He missed his conversations with Filius and even Septima. Dying. It did strange things to one's head.
Fine. He'd let her help him with the project. Then, obliviate her when they were done.
Just as Hermione was about to either leave the room or start yelling back- she hadn't decided yet- he stopped. He just stopped and stood there. He had one hand on his hip and one hand in his hair, holding a large handful in his grip. He was sort of staring at her but sort of not, his jaw working. His face changed as he stared. Went softer until he almost looked kind-ish.
"Alright. Of course, you know the spell to find certain words and phrases in all the books at the same time?"
"Yes, Sir." Obviously.
"Excellent. Here is a list." He started to hand her the list, but hesitated as she reached for it, finally relenting.
Hermione went to work on the library while Snape looked through her books from her room. Several hours later, she sat on one of the couches with 8 piles of books around her and most books bookmarked. She would accio the book from the shelf, find the passages she was looking for, bookmark and set the book in the proper pile. Then, one at a time, at his request, she would levitate specific books to Snape working at the large table. After too many pots of tea, all the souffle' and spaghetti as well as numerous, sneaky, silent snack deliveries from Kreacher and many pages of many books, a few long answers about specific potions Hermione had been wondering about and some magical theory, the clock rung five am. She had figured out from her unintentional reading that Snape was creating a spell or potion to mask a magical signature, presumably his own, from the Ministry Trace. Not just mask it; erase it. He really would cease to exist.
"Sir?" Her voice croaked out from the hour and the dusty books.
"Hmm?"
" Why can't they trace the magic you did earlier?"
Oh, so she knows. Of course she knows. "As long as I do not use any one wand long enough for it to accept me, there isn't enough signature to trace. It's too weak."
"So, if you use the new ebony wand very many times, it will trace?"
He grunted a yes, not wanting to encourage this line.
" How many times?"
" Hm." Bugger it all, "Twice, maybe three."
"So, how will you do the potion?"
She's fishing. She knows he needs her, but she allowing him to ask. How 'kind'. Intolerable witch. "I suppose you will have to do it. Has your potions work improved over the two years?" He wasn't egging her on. Granger had only ever been adequate at potions, unlike everything else.
" Actually, Sir, I've been making the Wolfsbane. After you..um.. left.. poor Remus went two months before I was able to learn it." He knew this of course. It was all part of the plan. One can make three months of wolfsbane, but the third dose is weak. He'd made the two extra months, knowing his leaving was imminent, but they had been destroyed when an errant spell hit his store room on the night he'd killed Dumbledore -he'd tried to come up with another way to refer to that night, but there was no other that fit. He had planned to find a way to teach Granger the process of making the potion, but things had accelerated and he'd run out of time.
"Yes, 'poor Remus'. Well, he's not dead, so I suppose you did well enough."
They went back to work and when Snape glanced over to request the next book, Hermione was asleep. It looked like a good idea, despite the fact that she was sitting cross legged and leaning forward over a stack of books, a mountain of hair cradled on her arms. He huffed out his half laugh and went to the other couch, stretched out and fell asleep immediately.
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"Severus, please." Severus turned away, refusing to do the task. Instead he would kill the Death Eaters!
"Severus! Severus!"
"Professor! Professor!" He was being shaken and pulled on. Immediately his hand went to where his wand should be but of course nothing was there, so naturally he grabbed at his assailant's throat. It was Granger standing over him and he left go, now fully awake.
She gasped, but didn't let go. "Luna is here!" She whisper/yelled as she pulled him up by the front of his shirt and his arm -whatever she could get purchase on- and shoved him in to the cupboard. A second later, his coat, vest and one boot followed and the door slammed.
"Hermione?! Here you are. Sorry to be so early but I have muggle treats!", but then she got a look at the room, "Hermione, what on Earth is going on in here?" she asked with real concern, looking up and down her disheveled friend. Hermione caught herself in the window reflection- her hair was at least three times its normal volume, she had on yesterday's clothes with spaghetti sauce, chocolate and ink on her rumpled jumper. Hermione looked back to the room. It was quite a sight. Every surface was covered with books, parchment, tea cups or souffle. The spaghetti pot with two forks in it sat in front of the dead hearth. On the floor, next to the large table there was a two meter long flow chart with several pots of colored inks lined up. He had even transfigured a large dog statue lamp and the tea kettle into a small potions lab at some point in the night. She smiled to see the tea cups from her room waiting at the ready to be turned back into cauldrons.
"Well, I'm working on something...um..you know how I get." she laughed nervously.
"Really? Hermione, I've never seen anything like this before. Are you sure you're alright?" Her good friend was not going to let her off that easy.
Snape heard all this from inside the cupboard.
"Ok, I'll tell you." His heart stopped. "I'm working on the wolfsbane, trying to rework the potion a bit. Don't tell anyone. It may not work, you know."
Ah, Good Girl.
"Oh! That's so ambitious, Hermione! Is that Professor Snape's writing!?"
"Um, yes. His notes, you know, for the wolfsbane." The voices were getting farther away.
"Can I help? I never get to work on potions anymore." he heard Miss Lovegood plaintively ask. That made him smile. She had been an enthusiastic brewer, even a little experimental.
" No! I'm in a flow, you know, but I'll take the muffins..." The voices faded out and Snape remained in the cupboard. He wondered what time it was. They only had until four before Potter would be back. All the book work was done. Though the potion itself wouldn't take long, he needed some time for failures. He hoped there wouldn't be many. If Granger was as quick with the arithmancy as hoped, they would be alright.
Finish the Equation. Make the Potion. Cast the Spell. Start a New Life as Lorien Eden of Boston, Massachusetts. Oh, and Obliviate The Girl. Yes. He must. There was simply no way around it.
The door popped open and there was Hermione Granger with a bag of something sweet smelling and two paper cups of coffee.
"I told her it was going to be a long day and I'd need both the Starbucks. Mocha or vanilla latte? " She shrugged and smiled up at him as he took the mocha.
The day went as well as he could have hoped. Yes, Granger was as quick with the numbers as Septima had bragged and they worked the last parts of the spell together. With her suggestions, they had included a lag time of twenty minutes to give him time to recover from the potion which they presumed would make him dizzy as it erased his magic stamp from this world {and Obliviate The Girl} before he said the charm and apparated away forever. He never would have thought of it. She really was the brightest witch of her age.
The potion was done.
It was time.
All his waiting. He'd had this back up plan for a decade. In fact, the mythical Lorien Eden had kept a small flat- no 'apartment', they call it, in Boston for five years, but with very little hope of living through whatever the final battle would be, he'd only completed the outline of the spell. He never really thought he'd be able to use it. The six months had been all theory without a proper lab and an ability to do magic, but here he was. His new life could begin. She startled him from his thoughts,
"What were you going to do if I hadn't been here. They would have found you before you solved arithmancy?" she laughed but as she looked up- Oh, there was the old Professor Snape, staring daggers at her. She turned her laugh into a small cough and went back to clearing up notes.
To his credit, Snape did not yell or even stare her down for too long. She can't help but to taunt with her arrogance, so like Potter, he thought. But, no. It wasn't arrogance. It was pride and she should be proud. She'd done steller work. He thought for a moment he would tell her so. He was going to obliviate her anyway. That thought gave him pause. A shame, really.
"Work fast and hope for the best", he answered dryly.
They finished cleaning up, leaving no trace of Severus Snape in Harry Potter's home.
They were standing on the back step, where Snape would Drink, Obliviate, Cast and Apparate.
"You've done an amazing job, Granger. All of your professors were correct in their repeated, if not nauseating praise." he finished with a small bow of his head.
"To Life." He toasted her with the potion and drank.
It was bitter and he was glad for the time because it did make him dizzy.
It took a moment for Hermione to understand just what he, Professor Severus Snape, had said. She was flabbergasted to say the least. It was true, of course. Together they had done a truly extraordinary thing. She had had perhaps the most incredible night since..she couldn't remember when. She had learned so much and she had actually taught Severus Snape a thing or two. Before Hermione could get too carried away with her thoughts on his praise- The most coveted praise of her life, he spoke again.
"I have to obliviate you, you know?" She felt the floor drop out from below her. It was a good thing she had been leaning against the door frame or she would have fallen over. She felt sick to her stomach and a burning rage all at the same time. She almost couldn't speak. Almost.
"What!? Sir! You can't!"
How could he do this to her? After all she had just done for him? Hadn't she just proved, beyond a doubt that she was trustworthy?! She was furious, but also scared. Her mind was her finest asset. Her greatest treasure. She had just taken in a phenomenal amount of information and she was loathe to give up, and it had been such a night, too! Something else she couldn't really put words to that didn't want to lose. She hated obliviation! She'd learned all there was to know when she had looked for ways to charm her parents and though mistakes were rare, they did happen.
"But..it's my Mind, Professor and I've learned so much. I don't want to lose it all. What if you muck it up and take something else?"
"You can't know, Granger. No one can know. Even the medi-witches and Flitwick have been obliviated. Now that I am alive I intend to stay that way."
Then it truly hit her. He was trying to disappear. Of course, it wouldn't do to have her know. Why should she be the only person in the whole world to know of Snape's final great escape? She looked at her fearsome professor, back in his shabby black, head to toe. Bearded. Exhausted. If anyone should be allowed to disappear without a trace, it's Severus Snape. And if anyone was an expert at obliviation, it was probably Severus Snape.
Her eyes had gotten so big when he said the word 'obliviate', he thought they might pop out of her head. He raised his eyebrow at her suggestion that he could 'muck it up" but he could see that she was starting to panic and he lied. He Lied.
"I'll only take myself. You'll retain the knowledge." He had never lied to make someone feel better before. Not in this way. It felt like any other lie, though.
She looked down her nose at him, curled her lip and sneered, "You can't do that!" Her distain and clear disappointment that he would even suggest it, obvious.
"Professor. I know a lot about obliviation charms. I know you can't." She pulled up to her full, possibly five foot two height and with tears in her eyes,
"I'm ready, Sir. Just do it"
She sniffed.
He cleared his throat. His mind mind warred with itself, 'Just Do It!'
He raised his wand and prepared to do the spell, but was shamed by the simple trust he saw in her eyes, even though she knew he had just lied to her and was clearly furious! Snape was no stranger to guilt. He had lived all of his life feeling guilty for so many things. The paper made it worse! Potter absolving him of all his crimes, as if he could. As if any of them could. Here it was again. One more thing to regret, to eat away at him.
"You're very trusting."
"Well, why wouldn't I be? I've known all along you were on our side. You delivered Gryffindor's sword to us!"
"Wha.., how do you know that?!" He dropped his wand arm, genuinely taken back. He'd been Very Careful.
"What? You think the ministry is the only one with a magical trace charm? It's small, nothing like theirs, but it showed your signature on the sword for just a second." She wiped her eyes on the heel of her hand and at his incredulous look added, "Don't worry. It won't work anymore." She took in a shaky breath. He almost laughed.
"And, you didn't tell anyone?"
"I thought you must have had reasons for not wanting us to know." She was still standing tall, looking him straight in the eyes, waiting. Gryffindors.
He shook his head,"Remarkable."
He raised his wand again, but-
It was not second, but first nature for Severus Snape to cover his tracks and this would be a very large loose end. Still, Minerva would know he still lived. Why not Granger, too? She certainly has shown she could keep a secret and he knew she was an excellent liar.
He raised his wand again, but instead of saying 'obliviate', he put his wand to his lips in the sign of "shhhh", said the charm they had just created, stepped back and disapperated.
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It was a cold, rainy night about a year later and Hermione was lying on the couch reading, Crookshanks on her feet when her mother called in for her.
"Hermione, you have an owl! Poor thing. It's a mess out there."
"Thanks, Mum." She said as she rounded the corner and kissed her on the cheek.
The owl was a big tawny local thing and his package was clumsy. A large rolled up parchment of some kind. Hermione gave the owl a snack and sent him into the Australian storm and unrolled her package. Three magazines rolled out.
Spells Atlantic -the cover headline- Revelios and Potions? And under that, written in a hand she knew as well as her own- "better get publishing!"
Arithmancy Today and
Bon Appetit
As soon as she touched the Bon Appetit, it opened to an article entitled "Ten Souffles to Try". There was a one line note-
Best Regards, Lorien Eden. Boston, Massachusetts.
Hermione smiled as wide as she'd ever smiled, quickly flipping through all the magazines looking for other notes and was delighted to find all of them had indeed been annotated and footnoted.
"Who's it from, dear?"
"Oh, just a friend." Hermione opened Spells Atlantic.
~~Finite Incantatem
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Well, that's that. I hope you enjoyed it!
"oh, wait- he IS dead" Sorry about that Remus part. I was trying to stay as canon as possible but I'd forgotten he was dead when I wrote that and I needed Hermione to have some credibility, so -Yay! He LiVeS!