Chapter 07 - Planes and Taxis and Portkeys Chapter 07 - Planes and Taxis and Portkeys

Apparating from outside the school gates, the pair appeared in Diagon Alley's public Apparition area. They could have taken the Floo from Professor Dumbledore's office but Severus hated the spinning sensation and so had chosen to Apparate, and privately remarked that all that dirty ash was just too common. He looked like he'd crawled out of a gutter afterwards, yuck. Remus had been a little worried that he would not have the where-with-all to make such a long jump with Severus, but it proved to be easy enough since he had been eating regularly for so long and had the physical reserves and stamina to sustain such a long Apparition. Ignoring the speculative looks the few people in the area gave them; they checked the directory and discovered there was a privately owned Floo-talker in a Cafe near the airport.

Going to a small side Floo, Remus called the Thirsty Dragon Coffee House and was gratified to be answered immediately by a young man with a surprised look on his face. It only took a moment to negotiate a quiet spot to Apparate to and within ten minutes, they were on their way. The owner of the Thirsty Dragon, one Markus Leighton-Finch, was delighted to have any wizard pop into his shop and had directed them to a small employee's lounge on the first floor of the building. He was waiting by the door when the two wizards literally popped in, his jaw dropping when he saw who had entered his establishment.

"Professor S-Snape, Sir?" he gasped, blanching a little.

"Finch," Snape replied, staring down at the younger man, a former student from Hufflepuff who had finished his OWLs eight years before. "Have you met Remus Lupin-Snape? My husband?"

The man's jaw hit the ground as Remus bowed slightly, a small, understanding smile reassuring the younger man. "Thank you for the use of your establishment. He refuses to use the Floo, to undignified," he teased, trying to put the younger man at ease. It worked to a smaller extent, enough to unfreeze the terrified rabbit look and allow him to remember his manners.

"Oh! Er, yes then. Won't you come downstairs? We are open for business and my wife is probably dying of curiosity by now. She was Matilda Greenwell before our marriage."

"Ravenclaw," Snape commented as they followed the nervous man downstairs. "The coffee smells very good. We have some time in hand, would you care to indulge, Remus?"

"That would be nice. Hot chocolate, please." Remus smiled at the young woman behind the counter as Severus pulled out a chair for him and settled him at a small, round table in a large bay window. The room was pleasantly old fashioned, lace tablecloths and linen napkins and silver cutlery, unfortunately. Severus intercepted the teaspoon and butter knife that came with the scones they ordered, before Remus could be burned.

Finch almost wet himself under Snape's glare and succinctly worded hiss on the werewolf's inherited allergies to silver, his stupidity in not remembering his DADA lessons, and his shortened life expectancy if he forgot again. The young man apologised profusely for not knowing Remus was a werewolf in the first place, his failure to pass his OWLs with an acceptable standard and anything else Snape desired him to abase himself for. He took away the offending offerings, preparing a whole new plate of scones, a china pot of coffee and a china pot of hot chocolate before bringing them back with hastily procured steel cutlery. Surveying the spread carefully, Severus finally nodded his grudging approval and poured Remus a cup of chocolate before serving his own coffee.

The young couple held their breaths until both older men nodded their approval then both sighed in relief. Remus' sharp hearing heard Matilda murmur that she had been sure Snape was about to hex her husband just then. Severus was also as acute of hearing and smirked in unbelievable self-satisfaction, which made Remus shake his head resignedly. It was no use deploring the man's demeanour, it was ingrained and as much a part of him as his breeding.

The Snapes watched the hustle and bustle of the Muggle traffic as they enjoyed the break after their busy morning. Remus had not realised how tense he was until the chocolate seeped into his system and he felt the muscles in the back of his neck ease and loosen under its soothing flavour. Even Severus was moved to remark that they made a very fine cup of coffee as he poured another and sipped it delicately.

Thus fortified, they had Marcus call them a taxi to take them on the last part of the journey to the airport. When they had first planned the journey, Remus had suggested the taxi option but his partner had been extremely reluctant. He did not trust Muggle contraptions in any shape or form. After a long and hard discussion that precluded all other methods, he had finally acquiesced. Severus had never been in a Muggle car before and had no idea of what to expect as the large black vehicle pulled away from the curb. By the time they arrived at the airport, Severus had managed to lose every single vestige of colour he'd ever had. His nails had punctured the fabric of the car's bench seat and Remus wondered if he would have bruises where his husband had been strangling his arm during the journey. Unwrapping Severus' long fingers and carefully easing him out of the vehicle, Remus refrained from teasing him in any way as his partner stood rigidly on the pavement and refused to budge an inch further.

The driver accepted the Muggle money Remus handed over and grinned as the man refused the change he offered, not realising the new silver coins looked dangerous to his passenger. Taking Severus by the arm, Remus guided his almost catatonic mate into the revolving door that gave ingress to the airport Arrivals building. Once back under an artificial roof, Severus seemed to snap out of his blue funk and glared down at his shorter partner.

"If you ever suggest we do anything like that again, I'll hex you to the Outer Hebrides, I warn you so! That was worse than riding a Floo!"

Remus laughed.

The airport was chaos; Muggles everywhere, children screaming, laughing, crying and generally shouting in a very disorderly fashion. Severus wished he could cast a Silencing Charm over the whole pack of them, while Remus seemed unaffected by the hustle and bustle. Severus briefly recalled that the werewolf had lived as a Muggle himself for a number of years and was not totally ignorant of their world. The sound of a hungry dragon screaming made him flinch and look around wildly but Remus' hand on his arm stopped him going for his wands. An almost unintelligible voice made an announcement in three languages and Severus managed to piece some of it together using the English and French versions of the words.

"Qantas Flight … Australia is landing and … bark at … all passengers will be … through the East …"

The two wizards exchanged puzzled looks but then Severus noticed a large board with flight names and flashing lights. The name of the flight they had been given was now flashing the disembarking signal, and this caused the crowd to surge against the barriers with an eager, hungry sound. Remus shivered, still a little sensitive from the closeness of the full moon, but more from the recognition of the predatory mood of the crowd around them.

"Er – Remus? Have you any idea how to recognise this Sandy Solstein?" Severus asked almost dispassionately, tall enough to see over most of the crowd in front of them.

Remus opened his mouth then closed it with a snap. "No."

Bending his head to stare down at his shorter mate, Snape rolled his eyes in exasperation. Remus grinned at the familiar, narrow-eyed glare then pulled a scrap of parchment out of his pocket. Carefully using his wand as a quill, Remus printed 'Solstein' on the parchment and muttered a growth spell over the scrap. Passing it up to Severus he grinned when Sev clicked his tongue impatiently, but the taller man did raise the sign as soon as the first trickle of passengers began to emerge from the tunnel.

oo0oo

Alexandra Solstein stared down at the child sleeping uneasily on the seat next to her. She looked so angelic when her eyes were closed, but she had been a little demon, only getting worse as they boarded the plane. Not that Sandy blamed them. Hey, here she was, a trusted friend, taking them away from everything they had ever known. They were off to a place that was as foreign to the twins as Outer Mongolia was to the average.

When the news first came on the radio that there was a big bush fire raging out west, Sandy had been at work in the hospital where she was an enrolled nurse on the Medical Ward. Her friend Babs Kelley had turned the station up and called her attention to it, knowing she came from the Mildura region. The fire had a forty kilometre front and the resources from all the surrounding districts, both the Bush Fire Brigades and the Rural Fire Services were already deployed. It wasn't until the fire was back under control a week later that her mother called to tell her that her cousin's sheep station could not be contacted by phone, mobile or radio. The next day the police called and told her about Graham and Lacky being burned to death in their horse barn while trying to let the animals out. It was only after she spoke with the station manager that she learned Lacky had been pinned under a rafter and Graham had been overcome with smoke while trying to get her out. The station hands had been too involved in keeping the fire away from the main building complex and home paddocks to get over to the outlying barn in time to save them.

Larry Mundingi and his wife Elsa had taken charge of Angelinus thank goodness, as they were well aware of the nature of the children. Social services had tried to step in, but their hands were full with the number of homeless fire victims that needed temporary housing. Besides, the locals had upheld the Mundingi's claim to care for the child until Sandy got there. The fire had almost completely missed the town even though it had devastated both the Crown land and the sheep stations on the plains around it. At the local solicitors' office, Sandy learned she was to be in sole charge of getting Angelinus to England, and into the care of Lacky's cousin, Severus Snape. That hadn't been the shock. The shock was that both Graham and Lacky had left her enough money to give her a good start on the day dream she and Lacky had shared all those years ago when they first met. Living and working in London or studying at the prestigious Oxford College was always Sandy's wish. Her parents had not been able to afford it, and she had never managed to save enough to make it happen either. That her big chance came because of tragedy took some of the glow off.

Still in a daze, she had taken Angelinus, made arrangements for the Mundingis to run the station and set off to fulfil Graham and Lacky's final wishes for their children. And that's when sweet little Angelina and Linus had turned into the Scream Machine! They couldn't agree on what to wear which caused a screaming match. They couldn't agree on what to eat, which precipitated another screaming tantrum. If she told them off for fighting, they broke down into the most soul searing weeping, sobbing for their parents until their little body was shaking and clammy from the effort.

Then there was the deliberate naughtiness, things they hadn't done since they were tiny. Linus decided to cut their hair off in chunks. Sandy had been horrified and Angel outraged, fortunately next morning it had all grown back again. Then Angel had drawn Mummies and Daddies all over the hotel wall in felt tipped text marker. They deliberately broke toys and destroyed clothes, but worst of all, and most likely the least controlled behaviour, was the wet beds and midnight nightmares.

All these things were bad enough when staged at home or in a hotel room but when they started to happen in an airplane, Sandy couldn't cope! At first the novelty of the adventure had been enough to engage their attention, looking out the window, talking to the stewardess, getting their drinks served to them like grownups. Then they got bored and started to fidget, then to wail then to scream at the top of their lungs, which made the rest of the passengers glare or cringe. When the sobs got too much, one of the other mothers had come down the aisle with a very determined expression on her face.

"Look, dear, I know you may have your own ideas, but the rest of us are fed up. Your daughter is keeping everyone else awake and we have had enough. Now! This is a mild sedative; it will slow her down, possibly enough to make her go to sleep and give the rest of us a break. Because, believe me, the next stop may be where you get off if she doesn't shut it!"

"Are you threatening me?" Sandy fired up, her own temper frayed beyond endurance.

"Nope, just giving you the drum. Look, you are all done in too, and I'll bet you could use the break? Here, let me give her just a spoonful and you will notice the difference straight away." The woman deftly poured a teaspoon of the thick pink liquid into Angelinus' wide-open mouth, causing the child to choke half way through her latest scream.

The little girl coughed and spluttered, spraying the seat and the meddlesome woman with sticky pink liquid but some went down the hatch. A few minutes later Angelinus stopped thrashing, her struggles slowing until she flopped limply over the seat, shuddering breaths still wracking her from time to time. Sandy let out a sigh, some of her own tension leaving her as her charge settled.

"Maybe you should try a mouthful yourself," the woman said, not unkindly, passing over the bottle. "Hang on to the bottle. Use it if you need it later."

Sandy wrapped her hand around the small brown bottle with a guilty flush. She wouldn't use it; it was wrong, not good to drug children but… At least Angelinus was resting at last, although the sighing had not stopped and she hadn't woken up for three hours. They had even had a stopover in Amsterdam that had not disturbed the sleeping child. She was pretty sure that that was not right but she was so tired! She could not remember the last time she had a full night's sleep since learning of her cousin's death. And she still had to fight her way through customs yet, and immigration and probably the nightmare of baggage handling!

Sandy felt tears welling in her eyes, self-pity and grief clawing at her usual optimism. It was all just too much for her, and she buried her face in her hands to shed a few quiet tears, hoping no one would notice. There was no one to help her at this point and a small child was depending on her totally for its survival. With no choice in the matter, Sandy pulled herself together and began to plan the logistics for moving a sleeping child, a ton of luggage and her carry-on luggage all by herself while navigating the immense complexities of Heathrow Airport. Her resolve nearly faltered under the weight of the tasks ahead, but she squared her shoulders and gritted her teeth as the seatbelt sign flared into life.

oo0oo

The majority of passengers had come and gone before a huge mound of luggage balanced precariously on a small luggage trolley trundled into sight. A small, dishwater blonde woman tried to push the trolley with one hand, the other clutching a small child to her body while two pannier sized bags bounced and jounced at her hips, threatening to overbalance her at every step. She looked around with black ringed eyes that seemed glazed and dull, barely flickering when they spotted the sign Severus held up. She tried to turn the trolley toward them, but the luggage pile threatened to topple, so she gave that up in resigned exhaustion.

Taking pity on her, Remus gracefully vaulted the barrier rail and hurried across to take control of the luggage. "Sandy Solstein? Hi, I'm Remus Lupin-Snape and that is Severus Snape, the children's new guardian, by the barrier; let me push this for you." He took the handle and applied his enhanced muscle to the trolley, headed for the gate and quickly guided the obviously exhausted young woman to where Severus could meet them at the end of the barrier. It was a matter of a moment for Severus to relieve her of the two huge bags and draw her over to a quiet corner away from the crowd. Severus was very keen to demand where the second child was, but Remus hushed him with a look, signing that he should deal with the luggage.

Glaring, Snape moved his wrist to release his wand from its forearm holster. It slid into his hand almost unnoticed, almost indistinguishable from the pale, sallow skin of Severus' fingers. It was the third wand Severus had owned and used, and possibly the most eccentric. His first had been a standard eleven inches of willow with a dragon heartstring core, broken when he left the Death Eaters the first time. His second wand, an unregistered duelling wand he still carried regularly, was twelve inches of ebony with a dragon scale core. However, the wand he preferred for everyday use had come from Germany and was barely six inches long. Even more uncharacteristic, its core was of mermaid hair coiled on itself in a figure eight loop. One end of the tress was set flush with the point; the other end protruded from the base of the wand and actually contacted the wielder's flesh when held. The final eccentricity of the wand was that the virgin Rowan wood was bent so that the wand itself was curved along its length. While it was not a fast reaction wand like the instant action of the duelling wand, once a charm was cast, the quadruple loop of mermaid hair seemed to concentrate and enhance the spell, making it four times more powerful that the original intent. When Snape released it from the wrist holster, the curve fitted perfectly into his palm, concealing it from all sight.

The muttering of an illusion charm and a shrinking charm reduced the luggage to a tiny pile on the table while no one saw any difference. Remus nodded his approval as he popped one of the shrunken trunks into his own pocket. Sandy Solstein perked up a little at this obvious display of magic, but no one around them seemed to be any the wiser.

"Oh, you're good, mate," she stated softly, almost intimidated as a perfectly shaped black brow rose in comment. "There's not a lot of magic in everyday use at home, no powerful wizards around our area. To see it cast in action so carelessly is rather fantastic, sort of a definite sign I am in a foreign country and all that."

Severus shook his head at her confused speech, but like a bulldog worrying a bone, he returned to his most pressing concern. "I think a certain number of answers are necessary at this point. My cousin told me in her letter that there would be twins which implies two children, but you only booked seating for two and you are obviously carrying only one child."

"Actually, I'm not carrying one child but two. This is Angelina and Linus Morecombe commonly and collectively known as Angelinus. Look, it's a long story and I am exhausted right now, can you contain your curiosity until after I have had a sleep? Angelinus has been hell to travel with, whiny, bad tempered and a complete nightmare. It wasn't until one of the women on the 'plane gave me some sedative medicine that they settled down a little and fell asleep."

Remus concentrated hard on the small, apparently female child in the girl's arms, his nose wrinkling just the tiniest little bit as he sniffed delicately. His brows knit in confusion; he actually smelled both a young female and a young male in the one child's body. His surprise was not concealed from Severus who could read him very easily as he held out his hands. Sandy almost automatically handed the limp bundle over to the small, sandy haired man, too tired to try and protest. Stroking the child's honey brown curls aside, Remus bent his head closer and sniffed again. "That's odd, I smell something… Severus, do you recognise the scent?"

Sniffing, Severus frowned; cataloguing sugar, refined willow bark, belladonna in a processed form, chemicals and something else that was vaguely familiar. Before he could isolate it, the Squib spoke up somewhat perkily, almost nervously.

"Oh, that was probably this stuff; it's just an over-the-counter medicine for restless babies. I only gave them half a dose because they rarely have to take medicines." Sandy handed over a small brown bottle, which Severus opened and sniffed, drawing his head back sharply.

"Oh Merlin! Check the child's heart rate, quickly, Remus."

"It is missing a beat, every now and again," Remus said in shock.

"Here, take this to Poppy and tell her the child is poisoned with this foul concoction. I will cover you." Severus handed over the offending bottle and Remus Apparated, a slight 'pop' all that marked his going. In his place, his image sat still, holding the child on his lap.

"Whoa! Now I am impressed! But why the flurry, it was just pharmacy medicine, a really common pharmacy medicine at that," the girl asked, a note of panic and worry colouring her tone.

Severus ran his hands through his hair, totally dislodging the holding spell Remus had put on it for him. "The child is a magical creature, quite a powerful one, as your letter stated and obviously labouring under some sort of gease. Into that unstable mess you have casually poured belladonna and morpheas malicia. Oh, the bottle had their chemical names, but our world usually gives the real names. All I can say is; thank Merlin you didn't give the child the full dose as recommended on the bottle, or she would not have survived the journey. So, let us move on now as these charms will fade away soon and we have to be out of here first."

Sandy grunted as she climbed wearily to her feet. "You know, if I wasn't so tired I would be screaming insanely. So what sort of amazing surprise do I get now? And how far do I have to walk, not far, I hope?" she asked wearily as she stumbled along beside the extremely tall man in the heavy black raincoat.

"I have a Portkey," Severus murmured as he remembered his manners and cupped her elbow to help her along.

"What's a Portkey?"

"It's a travel device that will transport us to Hogwarts. Here, put your finger on this Galleon and you will feel a pull in the region of your navel. It will take us to the school."

"Is that where Remus has taken the kids?"

"This is so," Severus replied smoothly as the magic took hold and Sandy screamed.