Chapter Fifteen: The Rise and Fall
Emilia wish she could run. Or at the very least, become invisible. The odd group of three were now marching themselves up the corridors from the pits of the dungeons. Emilia knew that they'd find Malfoy. And then, she supposed, the next time they saw her, they'd probably kill her.
Her stomach churned from anxiety. She'd been up for what seemed forever, and the night was beginning to blossom to the next day. It was now about four o'clock, and Emilia was tired. Her adrenaline was wearing out, and even the merciless peril of what was going on wasn't keeping her awake. She wanted to get to the Great Hall; she wanted to find Dumbledore, and get all those Death Eaters out of sight.
Potter, she saw, was just as tired if not more than she was. Severus looked well rested, but distressed in the most terrible way. Without sleep, Emilia knew she wouldn't be ready for what was to come. But she could not let her guard down.
They'd finally reached the first floor, and using the map Potter so conveniently had ("I knew I'd seen that parchment had before!" Severus seethed at him) they managed to avoid some of the Death Eaters. Potter said something about getting to Gryffindor Tower, to get some very important things that ought to help them. So, the unusual trio made their way there.
"I hope Hermione's all right," Potter said suddenly, after they'd found McGonagall's secret route into the Common Room (which was fairly easy, as the Marauder's map showed that quite nicely).
"She's Muggle-born, isn't she?" Emilia said gently.
Harry turned his head away from her, and quickly went up the staircase. They heard him making a racket up there, searching for what they might need.
Severus looked at her, and then sat down near the extinguished fire. He put his head in his hands, and breathed in loudly. Emilia stood there, feeling really anxious, shifting from one foot to the other. Potter seemed to be taking a really long time.
"Stop doing that," Severus snapped, jerking his head up at her. "You're making me nervous."
"I'm sorry," she hissed. "I can't help it if I wasn't mentally asleep for the last four hours, while my body was running around performing its uses for Voldemort!" Emilia crossed arms.
Severus gave her a really nasty look before glancing up to see Potter had finally come down. He had a silver cloak and a broomstick, along with a small pocketknife and an expansible book.
"Bought it in Diagon Alley," he said, holding up the title piece of parchment. "Survival book of sorts." He paused, and flushed a little. "Thought it'd be useful."
"It will be," Emilia said. "I've wanted to get one of those." Severus' lips curled into a sneer, and Emilia flashed a look of anger at him, daring him to say something. She turned back to Potter.
"This all will be useful, thank you," she said. "The cloak especially." Dumbledore mentioned something to her about that Invisibility Cloak of his. Thought it would be useful information should anything happen.
"Where are we going to go?" Harry asked tentatively. He glanced from one Professor to the other. Emilia looked unsure, and felt even more, to say the least. She'd run out of ideas. She knew she needed to rescue Dumbledore, and alert the Ministry. But, chances are, they've probably gotten rid of any lines out of Hogwarts. At least, that's what she would have done.
Emilia bit her lip. Severus looked as deep in thought as she; Emilia could only guess that the both of them were trying to come up with something and quick. Any wrong moves and the lot of them would be dead.
"Let me see that map, Potter," said Severus suddenly, holding out his hand. Harry looked uneasy. She could sense that he simply didn't trust Snape.
"Harry," Emilia said kindly, "I think what we're going to do next is save Dumbledore. He would be our greatest asset to find."
"That's if he's still in the castle," Severus added. "He may have gone to alert the Ministry."
"But what about us?" Emilia said exasperatedly. "I doubt he'd leave us here!"
"We're competent adults," Severus snapped in reply.
"You might be accept by that lot," Emilia said angrily, "but unfortunately, as soon as they locate Malfoy, the chances of them not killing me on sight are slim. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but just to let you know there aren't a whole lot of teachers to be helping us. Or did you forget, Severus, that this is Christmas Holiday? They are all gone."
Severus furrowed his brow in thought. "Fine," he snarled. "Fine. Search and locate Dumbledore. If he's not there, then he's gone. We need to get moving, though. I only know bits and pieces of their plan."
Emilia gave him a patronizing look. "Harry, search for Dumbledore. Severus and I need to have a small talk before we get going. Let us know immediately when you find him."
"Yes, Professor," Harry said, nodding. He pulled out the map and set to work quickly.
Emilia looked up at Severus. "Over here," she said, walking to the corner furthest away from Harry. "We can have some privacy over here."
Leaning against the wall, Emilia crossed her arms. "We need to stop this."
"What?"
"This...arguing. It's gotten us into more trouble than we need. Our jobs have been threatened, and now our lives are being compromised. We need to establish a truce. You've got to stop arguing with everything I say!"
"I argue with everything you say?" Severus replied angrily. "You do a good portion of the arguing yourself."
"Fine," Emilia snapped. "I argue too. But this has to stop. It's gone too far. We're going to get ourselves into trouble if we can't control ourselves."
"I agree," he said slowly. Holding out his hand, he asked tentatively, "Friends?"
Emilia shook it. "For now," she added. "Afterwards, you can go back to acting like an ass."
Severus chose to ignore that. He looked really sad, Emilia thought. Her mind drifted to what happened earlier. Of course he was going to be sad. He was rejected. Emilia didn't know what to think of that whole mess. When they are safe, then maybe she could think about how she really felt about Severus. Until then, she was going to forget about that, and focus on what was really important now: saving themselves.
Severus walked back to Potter, and sat down across the fireplace, where he was sitting earlier. Harry looked up, and glanced between those two. Emilia could tell he was dying to know what they had said. He didn't say anything, though.
"Harry," Emilia said, standing between the two of them, as they were sitting across from each other, "and you two Severus,"—he looked up—"I want the two of you to work together. No threats or any dirty looks—I'm not going to lie, we're probably going to be running from death all night, and I'm not sure we're going to survive. But we'd have a better chance if everyone got along. So, right now, all of us are going to agree that yes, we disagree, but for right now we're going to get along. And may that not kill us."
Harry smiled weakly. Looking at Severus, his smile dropped, but he understood about working together. "Shake hands," Emilia instructed. Harry got up, slowly, and then Severus followed reluctantly. Both shook their hands, and let go extremely quickly.
"Good, I'm glad," she said whole-heartedly. "I'm going to go and wash the grime from the dungeons off of me, I won't be but five minutes. Keep looking, Harry, for Dumbledore."
"Yes, ma'am." He sat down and continued looking. Severus took a step back, to let her pass, but instead of sitting back down he went to the window and looked outside.
Emilia sighed, and took a right into the bathroom. She was still in her dress robes and that made her a target, especially in the light. She needed something darker. Something black. She glanced around the room, but didn't see anything. She didn't want to ruin her beautiful dress robes, but she couldn't afford to be wearing something that resembled a lantern. Deciding to at least clean up, she splashed her face with cool water, and looked back up in the mirror.
She was still only twenty. She was silly to think that she'd be back to her old age. After all, that was wishful thinking! Sighing inwardly, she dried off her face and searched one more time for a black robe. And, once again, finding none, she walked out of the bathroom.
Both of them looked up at her expectantly. She smiled weakly. "Um...I was thinking," she said slowly to them, "I probably ought to have a black robe, so that I don't stick out like a sore thumb." Emilia paused.
"What did you want to do about it?" Severus said airily, crossing his legs and leaning back in the chair.
"Did you know of anyone...here...that might let me use one of their robes?" she asked Harry. "I would understand if you don't think this would be appropriate, but unfortunately, saving their lives would, I think, constitute a little leeway. Right?"
Harry nodded, and stood. She was but half a head taller than he was. "I let you borrow one of my own," he said. "It may be small, but I think it would work?"
"Yes, please," Emilia said, wringing her hands. Harry gave her the map and he ran up the stairs quickly. She looked down at the map, and glanced over it all. Severus appeared at her side, and looked over her shoulder at the map. His head fit right over her shoulder, and the closeness of him made her blush a little.
"Severus," she croaked, trying to stand still, "when I said that we should be friends, I didn't mean..."
Severus took a step back, and Emilia turned around. "Is that what you thought?" Severus said angrily.
"Well, what am I supposed to think when you're that close to me?" Emilia said back, just as pissed.
"What does that mean?" he replied quietly. He looked at her, almost expectantly.
Emilia's face flushed a little deeper. "I...I just—"
"Professor?" Harry said, walking down the stairs. Emilia whipped her head around, and saw a black robe in his hands.
"Here's my biggest black robe. I hope it's okay...are you all right?" He said, looking from her to Snape.
"I'm fine, Harry," she said, walking up and taking the robe. "Thank you so much for this. I'll be back in a minute." She went into the bathroom and quickly changed. She was lucky that she'd put her under gown underneath her dress robe. It was already uncomfortable in Harry's robes (which were a bit loose on her and too short on the legs). Imagine, though, her walking around in them in her birthday suit! She didn't even want to think about it.
Emerging from the bathroom in record time, Emilia walked out into the Common Room with her robe in her arms. "I think I'm just going to...leave it here," she said, placing it in the corner. "I don't want this to make it easier for the enemies to track us."
"Exactly," Harry said suddenly. Emilia looked up with a peculiar expression. What did he mean? Oh well.
"Let's go," Severus said quickly. "I just found Dumbledore."
"Really?" Emilia said, snatching the map out of his hands. "Where?"
"Right there," he said, pointing to the smallest dot inside the Slytherin Common Room. "You must have missed it, they keep moving in and out of his dot. It took me a few minutes to make sure it was him."
"Good, he's still here," Emilia breathed in, placing a hand on her heart. It was beating so rapidly. Emilia would never admit, but she was afraid. She knew that the chances of living were slim to nil, not to mention that she had Severus, who had been tricked with the Imperius Curse once, and Potter, who was a moving target just by breathing. All of them, including her, were in the most danger. And, setting out through the passageway from which they came, they were the only ones to save them all.