Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter or Transformers.
Chapter 2 – The Weasleys
The week passed more quickly than Snape had anticipated. As he watched the students file onto the train, he felt his stomach turn with nervousness. He had put his Spinner's End house up for sale two days ago, causing much gossip to arise in the pub at Hogsmade. The house sold for a mournfully low price, but enough to live on until he was able to obtain a suitable Muggle job. As for the glasses, Snape decided to hang on to those until he reached his 'new home' – wherever that will be.
I'll just pay Mr. Weasley a visit tonight. Hopefully I will not surprise him or his family too much about my leaving. Then a slight smirk curled at the corners of his mouth, which he tried to force into a grimace so as not to shock any students passing by him on their way to the train.
Just then, he heard someone walk up behind him. He turned to see Dumbledore, who stepped up next to him. They watched as the last of the students boarded the train. Snape glanced at Dumbledore again.
"Have you yet spoken to Mr. Weasley?" Dumbledore inquired, he eyes fixed onto the train as it began to chug away from the school.
"No, I haven't," Snape answered with a heavy sigh. "His children will think I have followed them home."
"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked, turning his confused face towards Snape.
"I'm paying them a visit tonight," Snape stated.
"Tonight?" the Headmaster wondered aloud. "I thought you were leaving tonight."
"I am. To leave no time to change my mind I thought would be the best way to depart," Snape hurriedly explained. Dumbledore was quiet for a moment as he looked into the distance.
"Severus, I am very concerned that this will not go well," he quickly announced.
"Why is that, sir?" Snape asked with a scowl.
"The Death Eaters. If he orders them to fetch you, it will be within the Muggle world in which you wish to live," the old wizard explained. "They will be able locate you – no matter where you live."
Snape felt as if his heart had dropped into his shoes. Damn Voldemort and his bloody Death Eaters! Why on Earth did I have to get involved with them in the first place? Oh – to impress someone who barely cared for me...
"I'll find a way to avoid them," he tried to say with confidence, yet his voice wavered.
Dumbledore remained silent, still staring thoughtfully into the distance.
Ron had arrived home just in time for dinner, which was scrumptious. His mother fussed over him and his brothers and sister while his father engaged them in lively conversation about what they have learned that year.
But their cheerful reunion was interrupted by someone knocking on the door.
"I'll get it!" Mrs. Weasley sang out as she hurried towards the door. She appeared quite surprised to see a rather frightened-looking Severus Snape standing outside on their porch.
"P...Professor Snape?!" Ron gasped, his eyes wide with terror and surprise as he leaned across the table to see around his mother.
"What in the bloody hell is he doing here?" George whispered to Fred, neither of which were smiling mischievously.
"...Oh! Come in, sir!" Mr. Weasley warmly invited after he followed everyone's eye-lines. He stood and pulled up a chair. "Come in!"
Snape, without speaking, slowly stepped into the warm, cozy, cheerful house as if he went in to meet his death. "Well, get in here, already!" Mrs. Weasley snapped. "You're letting all the heat out!"
Ron gulped. "Did I...did I forget something...sir?"
"...No..." Snape carefully answered after his eyes found him in the 'crowd'. He turned to Mr. Weasley. "It's you who I need to speak with, actually."
"Why me, sir?" Mr. Weasley asked, concern on his face. Snape picked up his concern, and quickly reassured him.
"No need to worry, it's not about you," he said. "It's about..." He glanced at the other Weasleys, annoyed that they had to hear this as well. "It's about me."
"What about you?" Mr. Weasley asked as he motioned to a chair where Snape could sit. Snape sat. He took a deep breath. Several pairs of eyes were watching him intently, which was making him quite nervous. Damn these blasted Weasleys!
"I'm leaving tonight for the muggle world," he stated. "You obviously find this a surprise, but I need a...vacation...from the Wizarding world. Unfortunately, I know very little about Muggles, nor do I know where to go."
There was a dead silence in the house for ten seconds as every Weasley just sat there, staring in complete shock at Professor Severus Snape, the Potions Master, the headmaster of the Slythern house wanting to go live in the Muggle world!
"Are you feeling well, sir?" Mrs. Weasley was the first to break the dreadful silence. She moved to place the back of her hand on his forehead, but he jerked his head away.
"Yes!" he barked, causing everyone to jump. He cleared his throat. "I have personal reasons for this decision. All I need is Mr. Weasley's advice." He looked hard at Mr. Weasley. "You are an expert on Muggles, aren't you?"
Mr. Weasley opened and closed his mouth a few times until he could speak. "I...I believe so... Not an expert as you say, but I do know quite a bit about Muggles."
"Very well," Snape sighed. "Do you know of any good Muggle places – preferably a city – to live in?"
"What about London?" Mr. Weasley suggested.
"Other than London. What about places outside of the country?" Snape felt his mind running wild with the numerous locations all over the world.
"How far away do you actually want to go, sir?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"As far away as possible," he answered flatly.
"What about New York?" Ginny's voice piped up from the other end of the table. All eyes – even Snape's – pointed in her direction.
"Why New York?" Mr. Weasley asked, his brow furrowed with confusion.
"I was just throwing in a suggestion...that's all," Ginny looked down at her plate, her cheeks reddening with embarrassment.
New York? America? The location, for some reason, appealed to Snape. It's far enough away from here, I suppose it's the ideal place to go.
"Have you ever been to New York?" he inquired to Mr. Weasley after a moment of contemplation. Ginny glanced up with surprise. He had accepted her suggestion!
"Well...no...but I do know enough about it," he got up from his chair, and hurried over to his bookshelf. "I have plenty of magazines and such about the place. Now let me see..." He shuffled through the magazine section of the bookshelf for a moment. Snape waited in silence, listening to the noise of the Weasley children talking amongst themselves.
"Ah! Here it is!" Mr. Weasley cried with delight, pulling out a rather thick book with the title 'New York and Manhattan' and a nighttime cityscape of Manhattan on the cover. He sat down across from Snape and flipped through the pages. "This book was printed last year, so the maps and photographs are up-to-date," Mr. Weasley went on. "You will find this useful, I think." He placed the book on the table and pushed it over to Snape, who picked up with caution and examined it.
"There's also another issue that I need to address..." Snape announced after he had finished glancing through the book.
"Anything you wish, sir," Mr. Weasley replied with an uncertain grin.
"The Death Eaters. I need to be able to evade them, if possible," Snape explained, glancing cautiously over at the other Weasleys. They were still talking quietly amongst themselves. Fortunately, they haven't heard him.
Mr. Weasley gave him a knowing look. "Dumbledore owled me about your impending departure three days ago. He said that must be the first thing we should remedy at once."
"Very well," Snape replied, a little miffed that his arrival was of no surprise to Mr. Weasley. "Did you come up with any ideas?"
"I did, but I'm not sure if it will work," Mr. Weasley hesitantly replied. "It was an invention Fred and George and I came up with last year." As if on cue, the twins, who had overheard their father, jumped to their feet to retrieve their 'invention'.
Snape raised a brow with skepticism. Fred and George? Indeed this ought to be interesting...
"What is it?" Snape inquired, his brow still quirked.
"Time-traveling floo powder," Fred announced proudly, presenting a quart-sized translucent brown jar, in which contained the said powder. "We've tried it a few times, and so far it works."
Snape couldn't resist. "You've actually traveled to another time using this floo powder?"
The boys exchanged uncertain glances. "Well...we can't exactly choose the time, just the location like in regular floo powder. The actual time is random – but no less than ten years from now."
"You can only travel forward in time?" Snape asked, feeling dizzy. Time-traveling floo powder?
"Unfortunately, yes," George shrugged.
"There is also a distance limit with the floo powder," Fred piped up. "You can't floo any farther than Diagon Alley."
"At least from there, you can travel to New York," Mr. Weasley added. "Do you have a passport?"
A passport that I have never used in my entire, empty life. "Yes, I do," Snape quickly replied.
Mr. Weasley took a deep, contemplative breath and leaned back in his chair. "New York is located in the United States..."
"Oh really? I didn't know that," Snape sneeringly commented.
"You need to be aware of the implications that time-traveling floo powder can bring upon you, sir," Mr. Weasley retorted, glaring at the dark-cloaked wizard across from him. "No matter how far into the future you travel, Severus, you need to be aware of the current events both locally and the world. Additionally, you must also keep your behavior in check around Muggles – particularly American Muggles." Mr. Weasley took a deep breath, and gave Snape a quick, scrutinizing look-over. "And you need to keep tabs on your..." He clears his throat. "...fashion preferences."
Snape glanced down at himself, scowling. He then glared back at Mr. Weasley. "Why do you care what I wear into the Muggle world? Is there fashion police that I must be aware of?"
"Goodness!" Mrs. Weasley gasped. "Must you take offense at the drop of a hat?" She walked over and stood defensively beside her (seated) husband. "Muggles – unlike us – are obsessed with what others wear! They will...stare at you like you've lost your mind!"
Snape rolled his eyes. "In case you were wondering, Mrs. Weasley, I am on a very tight budget."
Mr. Weasley shrugged carelessly. "Suit yourself. When do you plan on leaving?"
"I'm leaving now," Snape responded. "But I think I've all the information I need for the trip."
"Very well," Mr. Weasley stood, followed by Snape. "Where's your luggage?"
"Outside the door, on the porch," said Snape, heading for the door. "I'll get it."
Once he rolled his trunk, which was strapped to a wheeled luggage carrier, into the house, Mrs. Weasley quickly grabbed the jar of floor powder from Fred and approached Snape. "All right. You get into the fireplace, and I'll give you a handful of this. As Fred pointed out, you can't go farther than Diagon Alley, so you will have to leave from there."
Snape managed to get himself, and his trunk into the fireplace. He held out his free hand to Mrs. Weasley, who poured a measured amount into his palm.
"Bon voyage, Severus," Mr. Weasley said, holding out his hand to Snape, who eyed it warily before taking it.
"Thank you...Mr. Weasley," Snape replied hesitantly. "For your help."
"You're very welcome," Mr. Weasley grinned back.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Diagon Alley!" He threw down the powder - POOF! Snape was gone, and so was his trunk.
Ron blinked. "Blimey, he must've wanted to get out of here so badly that he actually went to New York!"
A/N: If there's anything weird or inconsistent please let me know. I've only seen the HP movies, and never read the books - so I have no idea if Mr. Weasley knew about Snape being an ex-death eater or not. Thanks for reading!