Insidious Dioxin
Chapter One: A Hole in Time / Take Me With You
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Waves of Hogwarts students poured into the Great Hall as Death Eaters stormed the gates. The younger children had already been evacuated, fourth years and younger.
Fifth years had to bring a parent if they were to return, and sixth and seventh years could do as they pleased.
Dumbledore was pleased to discover most of them wanted to stay and defend the school.
Harry pulled out his wand, ready to face Voldemort once more, and said as much.
"Well said, Harry." Dumbledore beamed. "But you are not the one to go about punishing him. Not today, anyway."
"Professor?"
"Voldemort is not leading the attack, Harry. Lucius Malfoy is."
"So you're saying I can't fight?"
"What if you were to be injured? It's e such a waste. You're the only one who can defeat Voldemort. You've known it all along."
"And the rest of the students? They're to put their lives on the line for nothing?"
"No, Harry. No one's fighting at all."
"I'm afraid I don' understand, sir."
"The Death Eaters have a traitor in their midst. Severus Snape. He's leading them to a side entrance of the school, where there's a warp waiting for them that will set them back five minutes at least three times. That should give us enough time to escape and Severus enough time to get safely inside."
"And all of this is supposed to happen . . ."
"They should have hit the first warp by now, and Severus-"
As if on cue, said professor burst dramatically through the doors of the Great Hall, cheek cut deeply and bleeding. "Damn Hagrid . . ."
"Severus."
"Headmaster."
Both nodded, pleasant to stiff, and Severus' eyes flickered over Harry, who's wand was still drawn, lip curling unconsciously. "Does he know there's no battle?"
"He's aware." Albus smiled patiently. Harry blushed and tucked his wand into his robes.
"Albus, I'm going to Muggle London. I have a flat waiting there and . . . Will you be in need of my services in the near future?"
"I'm afraid not. But there is something you can do for me, Severus."
"Anything."
"Take Harry with you."
The Potion's Master's face mirrored Harry's in confusion. "What?"
"He obviously knows his way around Muggles . . . Also, he has nowhere to go. It's the middle of term, and his relatives won't understand why he's returned early. Please, Severus? As a favor to me?"
"You're sure there's no one else?"
"No, Severus. I'm afraid you're our only choice."
Severus groaned, slender fingers coming up to massage his temples. He could feel a headache coming on . . .
"Choose wisely, Severus. An army can only fall into a time warp so many times . . ."
"Will it count as a paid vacation?"
"At half of what you make now? Certainly."
"No. I want full wages."
"Severus."
'If I have to deal with this brat for a few weeks, I deserve extra pay."
"But-"
"Goodbye, Albus."
"Alright. Paid vacation. Now go before I change my mind."
Severus turned on his heel and stalked towards a hidden passageway behind the Staff Table. Harry followed after brief hugs with Hermione and Ron.
The passageway was damp and not very well lit. Harry followed the sound of Severus' footsteps and tripped a couple times, once falling completely on the professor.
"Sorry.'
"Doesn't change anything."
"Where are we going?"
"The Muggle train station."
"Using and underground tunnel?'
"Would you rather face the Death Eaters, Potter?"
'No, but-"
"Then be quiet."
They made their way silently after that, Harry too busy worrying about the others to break the silence.
Snape muttered Lumos out of boredom and, after a few minutes, Harry felt the path inch upwards.
"Are we there yet?"
"No I don't know where we're going. We are lost indefinitely. Any more questions?"
A moment of thoughtful silence. "Wanna play a game?"
"Is this some kind of joke?'
"I say an animal that starts with 'a', you say that animal and one that starts with 'b'. We go back and forth until someone forgets and animal."
Another silence. Harry lost all hope and focused on not falling again.
"Anaconda."
"What?"
" 'Anaconda', Potter."
"Oh, um, anaconda, bear."
"Anaconda, bear, cat."
And so it went, as the incline rose, and soon they could sense the closeness of the world above. Both had to stoop to keep moving forward.
"Anaconda, bear, cat, dog, elephant, frog, goat, horse, iguana, jelly fish, kangaroo, lemur, moose . . . Damn, I forgot. You win, Snape."
Said Potions Master felt for the trapdoor overhead. "This used to be an empty room, but you never know."
He opened the trapdoor slowly, and Harry squinted at the late afternoon sunlight. Snape stood and looked around. "The coast is clear, Potter. Come on." He hoisted himself up easily and surprised Harry by offering a hand to help him us as well.
"You're my responsibility now." He said by way of explanation. "If anything happened to you, Dumbledore's never trust me again."
The room was indeed still there and empty. Snape turned to Harry and asked what his waist measurement was.
The boy looked at him, eyes widening in horror. "What?"
Snape rolled his eyes and guessed, gently tapping the nearest wall and muttering measurements. Stepping back, he pressed a loose board in the wall ad watched, unimpressed, as part of the wall swung back to reveal a large closet.
On one side were clothes, Harry's size, on the other, Snape's. Harry tentatively followed Snape inside and, after a moment's hesitation, drifted over to "his" side of the closet, which contained clothes of every color, and chose a red sweater and black slacks.
"You might want more than one outfit, Potter. I'm not buying you anything." Harry shrugged and chose a few more sweaters in black, brown, and green, and a few pairs of jeans, black and plain blue denim.
Snape's arms were heavy laden with slacks and jeans of his own, and his sweaters were either black or green. He also had coats and jackets, and he tossed one to Harry.
"Your side doesn't have any. I don't know why."
Harry looked around and saw that Snape was right as the older man tugged two worn-looking suitcases out from his side of the closet. He offered one to Harry, who took it gratefully and stuffed his clothes in, barely closing the suitcase by sitting on it and struggling to shut the clasps, while Snape carefully folded his clothing and placed it carefully into his suitcase, closing it easily with room to spare.
They took their respective suitcases in hand and Snaoe started as if remembering something.
"We have to change into our Muggle outfits. We're in Muggle London now." Harry nodded and looked for a door. There wasn't one.
"Where's the door?"
"We're in a whole other closet. The new door is behind your rack of clothes."
Harry pushed them aside to reveal a door. There was no knob. "What is this place?"
"Sort of a Room of Requirements. It's only been around for a few years."
Harry nodded and pressed the door with the palm of his hand, to no avail.
"It requires a spell, Potter. There may be Muggles on the other side." As an afterthought: "Go ahead and change already. We don't have all day."
That said Severus spun on his heel and stared at the wall as Harry removed his clothes, blushing madly.
Severus cleared his throat loudly. "I'm going to, ah, change my clothes as well. Do. Not. Turn. Unless I Give. The Word. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." Harry blushed harder and tried to push Severus' words out of his mind. He finished dressing and stood, listening, to the rustling of Snape slipping out of his robes and into a loose pair of slacks. A muffled yelp, a loud thump, a curse. Snape had . . . fallen? "Are you okay, professor?"
"I'm fine."
Harry didn't believe him. Old people were prone to falling and not being able to get up. He turned quickly, hoping to catch a struggling Severus on the ground, in need of assistance. Instead, he found a perplexed professor in the process of tightening his belt.
"I told you to wait until I gave the word."
"Sorry." Harry murmured, turning away. The image of Severus' bare chest, muscular, stuck in his mind, despite his valiant efforts to dislodge it.
The onslaught ended only when Snape pushed past Harry to get to the door. "Get your suitcase. I'm going to check outside."
Harry nodded and waited as Severus opened the door slightly, peered through, swinging it completely open. "The coast is clear. Let's go."
They entered an alternate room, which looked exactly the same as the other. Outside, it was still light out, late afternoon, and Snape led the way through the crowded streets of London, where the busy people ignored the two men with suitcases, some mistaking them for father and child with their black hair and lean build.
The train station was only a few blocks away, and they made it there within a matter of minutes. Snape abruptly asked if Harry had any Muggle money, promising to pay him back, as soon as they got to the apartment.
The boy produced quite a lot, but was it enough for a train ride for two?
Snape went to the ticket counter and discovered that yes, it was, but it would leave them with about ten pounds left over.
Severus decided to chance it and bought both tickets, figuring they wouldn't need anything else if they went straight to the apartment. He had money there, a year's worth if circumstances required.
He sat with Harry outside the station as they waited for their train to board. Severus checked his watch impatiently. "We have a good ten minutes until the train boards. Are you hungry?"
"A little."
Severus produced the rest of Harry's money, more than enough for a snack to tide them over until they got to the apartment.
They settled on ice cream cones, after Harry eyed the cart hungrily and Severus admitted it'd been forever since he'd had ice cream. It was Harry's money after all.
Snape surprised Harry by getting strawberry. Harry would have pegged him as a vanilla person, and couldn't believe he ate ice cream at all.
Harry himself got mint and chocolate chip, loving the sharp sweetness he'd only experienced a few times when the Dursleys weren't around.
They lapped at their cones absentmindedly, and Harry gathered up the courage to ask just how long it had been since Severus had last eaten ice cream.
The older man sat back and thought for what seemed like a long time to remember such a thing. "Two years ago, at a Halloween party thrown by Albus,"
Harry's look said it all.
"Oh, I don't hate parties. I loathe them. But I love strawberry ice cream. Always have."
Severus bit roughly into his waffle cone, as if to punctuate the thought.
Harry shrugged and looked down at his ice cream cone, which had been licked into a spiral, a fat bottom leading to a thin, dull peak.
Severus tossed his cone into the trash bin and went to get napkins from the cart.
Harry nibbled his cone down to the very last piece and shoved it into his mouth, with a weird satisfaction, particular of that moment, of eating ice cream outside a train station with Severus Snape.
Said older man came back and handed Harry a napkin, keeping one for himself and swiping the general vicinity of his mouth before pressing a and to his taught belly as if expecting it to inflate suddenly.
Harry caught a pink spot just above the corner of Severus' mouth and coughed loudly, hoping said Potions Master would take the hint.
No such luck. Severus stared at the older man. "What?"
Harry pantomimed wiping his face, and Snape swiped at the wrong side of his mouth.
Frustated, Harry balled up his napkin and reached out a tentative hand to remove the offending stain him-self, while Severus simply watched in confusion.
Blushing at what he had just done, Harry stood up and threw his napkin away, feeling that he had somehow violated every law and opinion he'd ever established regarding Severus Snape.
Upon sitting back down, he heard something he never thought he would: The amused chuckle of one Severus Snape, Potions Master Extraordinaire.
"You could have just told me there was ice cream on my face."
"I pantomimed it for you. Figured it'd be more than enough."
The announcer called their departure number and Severus took hold of his suitcase, motioning for Harry to do the same.
The seats were nicer than Harry expected and, and he settled in for a long and, hopefully, satisfying nap.
"hank you for the ice cream, Professor."
"It was your money."
As the darkness of sleep overtook him, Harry realized that Severus was right. It had been his money. So what was the 'thank you' for? The experience? The information the he had shared about himself?
Wondering about this and other things, Harry turned to ask the older man what the apartment looked like, only to find him submerged in his own peaceful slumber.