A/N: PLEASE NOTE THE TIME AND DATE OF THIS INTERLUDE. And then join me at the end before you bring out the firing squad ;)
As always, appreciation for turtlewexler coming through with the quickness and fixing all of my terrible American translations to British.
INTERLUDE 4
Tell me losing everything is what saved you
Don't lie⦠I see it in your eyes -Clementine von Radics
-2AM, 20 September 1998-
Severus had been stuck in the same position since he returned home over an hour ago, head held heavily in hands kept up by elbows on knees.
He deliriously considered that if he sat still long enough, perhaps the monumental mistake he made only a couple hours earlier would cease to exist.
The minutes ticked by on the large grandfather clock in his foyer, echoing loudly in the quiet early morning hour, and still the crown around his wrist pulsed wildly.
Which meant Hermione's heart was still racing.
Severus' fingers yanked hard on the roots of his hair at the slip. Not that it mattered much now, he thought, lifting his head so he could stare at the crown. Calling her Miss Granger instead of Hermione made no difference.
Things were in motion. Permanent things.
His mind drifted to the Vow, its chant loud in his head, but the words always broke on the middle line.
Power interchanging to make it fair
He knew when he added that line it would be the riskiest one, but Severus, being a veteran of risk, trusted in his ability to remain detached. Memories of tonight burst through his mind just then, a comet flash of blinding light.
It seemed his bloody brain had forgotten the definition of the word.
He pushed out of his seat and the visions scattered like puzzle pieces as he honed in on a new purpose. Moving out of his kitchen, he stalked to the cramped bookcases of his front living quarters, looking for the book that started this whole mess.
He thought he knew what he was getting into but obviously Hermione turned out to be more trouble than he accounted for.
Belatedly he registered the second slip. Fuck.
-Outside Spinner's End-
Unbeknownst to Snape, said trouble stood down one side of Spinner's End, shuffling her feet side to side. It had taken her nearly 45 minutes after Severus had deposited her on her doorstep to unfreeze from the shock of the evening's end and hastily disapparate here...wherever here seemed to be.
Hermione had nothing but Gryffindor nerve and a thundering, pulsing button clenched in the palm of her hand for direction.
Miraculously, she landed, unsplinched, in this dirty quiet street. The buildings crowded around her like dark, brooding sentinels, making the pavement feel claustrophobic; Hermione initially tried hurrying down the lane despite having no real idea of where she was going, when she smacked head-long into a web of wards.
They felt as inflexible and intricate as their suspected weaver. She placed her hand against the invisible wall.
Her fingers tingled. The button seemed to expand, a sole powerful pulse of energy.
Deep down, Hermione knew the house was there, likely behind a rather powerful Fidelius charm.
She wondered at the Secret keeper. Then, with a startled step back, she was struck by the thought that it would be her, 3 months from now, when the home was theirs.
The word reverberated strangely in Hermione's mind, its echo filling up all the empty spaces. That, coupled with the button's still-steady beat, urged her forward to brash and thoughtless action which took all of Hermione's logic to withhold from following through.
She thought she knew what she was getting into with Severus, but clearly the matter required more research, more introspection.
Backing into the dark unseeing corners of the alley, the memories of the evening rushed to her head, the blood subsequently rushed to her cheeks.
Maybe, just maybe, it even required more of that.
A/N: I know, I am infuriatingly and deliberately vague. All I will say is I struggled with what this Interlude should look like exactly and after a long bout of writer's block, was struck with the vision of Snape (who is more Keanu Reeves-esque in my head) in the very same position that he starts this short passage with. I appreciate all follows, favorites, and reviews, as long as you trust that YES I WILL BE VISITING THE BALL in the next chapter. We all must have our suspicions allayed, eh? Happy holidays.
