Chapter 35
The following evening, Severus and Hermione visit the Headmaster. Since Albus will remember nothing of the conversation the next day, Severus allowed himself to be persuaded to try Hermione's absurdly Gryffindor approach, though he still has misgivings.
"We know Potter's a Horcrux," he says, and watches with grim satisfaction as the old man pales in astonishment.
"We know about the other Horcruxes, too," Hermione continues. "We've identified and located all of them, and destroyed all but two of them."
"All but three, including Potter," Severus adds.
Dumbledore looks back and forth between the two of them, until his eyes settle on Hermione.
She averts her gaze. "None of that, if you please, Headmaster. Hasn't anyone ever told you it's very bad manners to go poking about in people's minds without their permission?"
"Does Potter have to die for the Dark Lord to die?" Severus asks.
The Headmaster heaves a sigh. "The magic involved is complicated."
"You make things more complicated than they have to be," Hermione says. "All this chasing around after Horcruxes with Harry, who never even heard of a Horcrux before you told him about them, and has never so much as opened a book that discusses them. Of course it seems complicated to you, doing things your way. If you'd shared what you knew with Severus and me from the beginning, the Dark Lord would probably be dead already."
Albus turns to Severus. "I really need you to trust me, my boy. If you'll just tell me what the other Horcruxes are—"
"Legilimens," Severus says, and then he's in Albus's mind. The old man is so stunned, that initially he doesn't shield anything, and in that moment, Severus finds what he's looking for, right there in the forefront of Albus's mind. It's not surprising it's there, since they've just been talking about Potter and the Horcruxes. He feels relief wash through him as he realizes that Potter only has to believe he has to die, that if he sacrifices himself willingly, he'll appear to die along with the Dark Lord, but he'll survive. Severus is about to withdraw from Albus's mind when he feels the flash of the Headmaster's relief, and so he stays. What is the old man relieved about? What was he afraid Severus might find, but obviously did not?
He chases the feeling, which slips away from him, sucked into a vortex of emotions and memories that swirl like a cyclone in the Headmaster's mind. The old man is by far the best Occlumens Severus has ever faced, and for a moment he feels as though he's drowning in the swirling sea of memories. He focuses on the emotions. There are so many, it's difficult to untangle them, but finally there it is, a flicker of panic, fear that Severus will find what he's intent on hiding.
Severus dives into the vortex, following the glimmer of anxiety, and catches a glimpse of Albus's wand. His wand? Then Grindelwald, and the Dark Lord, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. What does a children's book have to do with any of this? Then he sees himself casting the killing curse on Albus, disarming him and taking Albus's wand. This isn't an actual memory, of course, but something Albus has been thinking about. Next, Severus sees himself dueling Potter, likewise in Albus's imagination rather than in his memory. The Headmaster imagines Potter disarming Severus—as though that would ever happen—and taking the wand.
And then Severus is staggering against the door, hurled out of the old man's mind with a violence that leaves him reeling. Across the room, Albus raises his wand, but Severus yanks open the door and pulls Hermione out with him before the furious Headmaster can cast the Obliviate.
"Severus?" Hermione gasps, but he's taking the stairs two at a time, pulling her after him, and doesn't answer. She stumbles and he sets her back on her feet as the door opens above them. Severus pulls her with him down the corridor, narrowly avoiding the Stunner from Albus's wand. Instead of heading for the dungeons, Severus opens the nearest door with an Alohomora, slams and wards it behind them, and opens the window with his wand. Pulling Hermione up onto the sill beside him, he leaps into the darkness outside with her in his arms.
Hermione shrieks as they fly into the darkness, and clings to him with such force that he thinks he may have bruises tomorrow. He forgot how frightened she was when he flew with her the night he took her before the Dark Lord, but it can't be helped. They hurtle toward the gates as quickly as the spell can carry them, despite her trembling. Not until they are outside the castle wards does he stop, and only then to catch his breath before Apparating both of them to an alley in Muggle Manchester.
He looks at Hermione, who is practically hyperventilating. "Just a few more minutes," he says, and transfigures his robes into a black Muggle suit. Hermione's already dressed in Muggle clothing. "We'll be safe soon." He takes her hand and strides quickly out of the alley and onto a busy street. He hails a taxi, which pulls up to the curb beside them. "Do you know a decent hotel nearby?" he asks the driver.
"There's a Hilton not far off."
"That'll do."
Hermione is quiet on the drive to the hotel. Her eyes widen as he removes his wallet and pulls Muggle notes out of it to pay the fare. Inside the hotel, she watches him hand the clerk more pound notes in exchange for a room key. She doesn't speak as they ride the lift to the sixth floor and walk down the corridor to their room. Inside, she watches as Severus casts a very nasty set of wards on the door and window, then layers a series of Notice Me Not charms on top of the wards. When he's finished, he loosens his tie and sits down on the edge of the bed.
"Do you think he'll be able to find us?" she asks.
"I doubt it. You know Pureblood wizards. Out here in the Muggle world, most of them can't find their own arses with a map and both hands. Besides, in a few hours, the potion will reset time, and he won't remember any of this when he wakes in the morning."
"Which is why you wanted to talk to him late in the evening. Less time for fallout if things went wrong."
"Exactly."
"Do you always carry Muggle currency?"
"No, but I had an idea things might go awry with Albus and we'd have to get out of the castle."
"What did you see in his mind?"
"It's something to do with his wand."
"Whose? The Dark Lord's?"
"Albus's. I'll show you what I saw, so we can figure out together how to make sense of it. But first, are you all right?"
"Yes."
He cups her cheek. "Are you sure?"
She nods, but the tears that well in her eyes belie her words. They spill over and she leans into his touch. He puts his arms around her and then the floodgates open, trembling as well as tears, as the stress of the evening catches up with her.
"It's all right," he says, stroking her back.
"It isn't. Bad enough having to fight the Dark Lord, but Dumbledore is supposed to be on our side." She cries harder, and he holds her as she shakes and sobs.
"You're all right, love," he says, stroking her hair. "I've got you." He kisses her temple and lets her cry, murmuring that everything will be all right, that in the morning they'll be back home and it will be as though none of this ever happened.