Ch. 2 - Collapse

A loud bang exploded in a quiet, run-down part of muggle England, in Manchester. To be specific, the bang exploded between Back Piccadilly street and Piccadilly park. Several startled Muggle neighbors rushed from their houses, or peered out windows At the house closes to Piccadilly Park. To their stunned amazement, Spinners End seemed to have finally collapsed, and a young girl seemed to be trapped in the doorway underneath the rubble.

Immediately cellphones were whipped out and people started dialing emergency numbers. Children were hurried back inside, away from a possibly grizzly scene while men went and started to investigate the rubble to see if it could be shifted.

One man, however, silently went back into his home and wrote a letter on an old piece of parchment. Rolling the parchment up and sealing it with a drop of hot wax, he tied the letter to an owl and tossed the owl out the window.

It was about half an hour later when Wizards and Witches from 's and the Ministry arrived. Ironically it was shortly after the police and firemen from the Muggle world. In short order, the Muggles all had their memories of the events erased, the rubble was vanished, and Hermione Jane Granger was magically whisked away to the somewhat safer confines of the Wizarding world.

Far away from Spinners End, near a town called Yarrow which was next to the river it was named for, Severus Snape felt the old wards around Spinners End not only broken, but shattered. He gripped onto the banister on his stairs in his current home, Rooks Edge, as the magical backlash hit him. Once the backlash was over, Severus straightened himself out and apparated to where his old home stood. Or so he thought. Until he popped up where his house's back porch should have been...and found nothing remaining. Going to his next door, he knocked. The little old lady with far to many cats answered the door, and the cat on her shoulder looked suspiciously at him. The lady herself did not look at him, although Severus hadn't expected her too, as she was blind.

"Hello, Mrs. Sinfrady. I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could tell me what happened to the house next door?" Severus asked politely.

"No bother. Last I heard the Cheffields moved. It's still up for sale, I think." The little old lady replied politely in a wavering voice.

"No, the other house. On the lot just next to yours. Other side, you know?" Severus replied warily. She only used her frail voice when she wanted to be tricky.

"Oh, there's no house there. Never has been. An interesting looking chap bought it about ten years back, but nothing ever did come of it. Children play on it, I suppose. Nothing else, really. You shouldn't have any trouble buying it, I suspect." The woman offered. Severus sighed. So, whoever did the job was certainly thorough.

"Thank you, Madame. I'm afraid I must be on my way." He offered apologetically. The little old woman shut the door in his face, without waiting for him to leave. Grumbling to himself under his breath and feeling rather like he needed to wash out the taste of politeness from his mouth, Severus turned and apparated to the ministry. They would certainly have a record of a magical attack against a registered Wizarding house. At least, he hoped so. If the ministry had managed to tame it's chaos into something actually representing an office that ruled an entire hidden population of the country. Maybe. And Hagrid was a dwarf.

As it turned out, the Ministry's lack of a filing system was not a problem. Severus didn't need to go past the apparition point to find anything out. He had just turned around from apparating so that he could leave the apparition point, when Potter and Potter neƩ Weasely came down the hallway, talking in rather loud, upset voices.

"Are you certain it's Hermione in St. Mungo's and not someone who happens to look like her? I mean...she's so good at everything, and I can't see her making any enemies. She doesn't have the time for it! She barely even has time to talk to her boyfriend, from what I gathered from Evards." The boy wonder commented rather doubtfully.

"Yes, I'm certain Harry! Lexa, my friend from school who became a healer? She flooed into my office not ten minutes ago to tell me that Hermione Granger was found under a collapsed house! And she hasn't regained consciousness yet! Said she looked like a fate worse than death had caught up to 'Mione. As I told you just a few minutes ago. And what would Evards, one of your Employees, know about how Hermione spends her time? He lives in Essex, and Hermione most certainly does not. " the female Potter replied reproachfully. By this point, the two had reached the apparition point. So deep were they in their discussion, though, that they didn't even notice Snape was in the room. They passed right by him and went to another of the apparition points.

"Well...I was worried. Hermione hasn't written in over two years. It's not like her. Usually she sends a twenty page novel about all the thrilling research and learning she's doing. So...I asked Evards to look into it. As a favor, like..." Harry Potter replied as the two turned and 'popped' out of the ministry.

Severus, deep in thought over what they had said, turned back around and apparated to St. Mungo's. If what Mrs. Potter said could be believed, he'd found the person who broke his wards. He just hopped she was in one piece so he could throttle her for being so stupid. Merlin knew he already owed the silly chit one life debt because she happened to carry a healing kit with her everywhere during the war. He didn't intend to owe her a second one because she'd tried to come and visit him and splinched herself trying to get past his wards.

A large din filled the sterile waiting room when our Wizard popped into St. Mungo's. Up at the front desk the two Potters were arguing with one of the nurses. The nurse, a stout woman who appeared to be middle aged, stood in front of a cowering younger female nurse.

"I don't care if you are Harry Bloody Potter. You can't get in unless you're family or the patient says you can come in. And as you are neither family nor on a pre-existing list of people allowed to see our patient should she be unconscious, you're not allowed in." the nurse said flatly. Just as Harry Potter opened his mouth to argue, Severus reached the desk.

"And just who is on that list, seeing as how her only family was killed in the war?! Does she even have a list? She's muggleborn, you know, so she mightn't know that she needed to fill one out. " Ginny Potter demanded.

"Yes, Ms. Granger has a list. It was a requirement of her university to fill out such a list with St. Mungo's and and notification form so that any hospital she got put in by accident in the Muggle world would notify us so that we could have her transferred. Let's see, there's an Albus Dumbledore...but it appears that he died in the war...so I suppose that one could be crossed off. ..." The witch began, consulting a clip board on the desk in front of her.

"There's also a Mr. Severus Snape, a Todd Semalin, a Gordon Smith, and a Tyler Granger. All except the first one appear to be alive. As Mr. Snape is put second on the list, he is the one we will contact." the nurse replied. Both potters started to argue when Severus spoke.

"There's no need, I am Severus Snape." he announced in his quiet and silky voice. The same one he used to use to scare his students. Both Potters jumped and whirled around like they'd been caught stealing cookies from the jar, and the younger nurse began to hyperventilate. The girl always had been extra nervous around him as a student, it hardly surprised him that she had yet to improve.

"How did you know Hermione was injured?" the male Potter demanded. Ginny said nothing, but watched him suspiciously.

"You passed me on your way out of the ministry. Someone attempted to apparate into my house, directly through the wards. You tipped me off as to who it was. I can't imagine what the chit was thinking, but I'm sure we will find out soon enough. Nurse, take me to Granger." Snape growled, as he glowered at those in front of him. The middle-aged nurse gave him a look full of reproach, but turned and began walking towards an oak set of double doors. Severus followed her through them. To his amusement, both Potters were stopped from following through the doors when they were magically repelled and the doors snapped shut in their faces.