Chapter Sixteen: Searching for Dumbledore

The three of them were tight against the wall as two of the Death Eaters walked by. Emilia had to hold her breath to control the rapid breaths she was taking underneath the Invisibility Cloak. Severus' hand came up to her mouth to stop her from exhaling to loudly, and Harry, who was on the other side of her, was trembling slightly. They paused while Harry consulted the map, and told them to take the next left.

They were going to sneak into the Slytherin Common Room by way that Severus could enter; Severus told them that he was pretty much the only one to know about it, and like Minerva's secret passage, it bypassed the pictures that would not budge. It also was the only route that did not hold Death Eaters. Severus, who knew the way there well, was more than willing to voice his complaints on the whole situation. However, once Emilia reminded him that Potter could divert them away from Death Eaters, Severus reluctantly agreed to follow the rest of them.

And that leads them to where they walked now, slowly, because they had to make sure each of them was covered in the fairly large cloak. Severus, Emilia could tell, was biting his lip. She knew he was dying to mutter little blithering comments about this entire ordeal. Emilia, on the other hand, was trying to keep herself from trembling from fear.

Severus paused for a moment, in the middle of the hall. They'd made their left, right, left, and Harry gave them no indication they were there, at the passageway. What was Snape playing at?

"Severus?" Emilia whispered tersely. They needed to keep moving…she could hear voices of Death Eaters around the corner and out of the side of her eye, she could see the black dots getting closer…

"Severus?" she repeated.

He was examining the wall. Counting, she heard, as one, two, three was heard in a voice no higher than a whisper. What was he doing?

"Ah ha," he said triumphantly. "Alohomora!" The wall slid open quietly, and Emilia and Potter were dragged into the passage before it closed. Just on the other side of the wall, Emilia heard the Death Eaters pass by.

"That was close," Emilia breathed in. "Too close." Suddenly, she realized how they were situated in the small passage. She was hugging Severus while Harry was down the corridor a bit, lying on the ground, partially shown because of his cloak. It was eerie to see a leg then…nothing.

However, it was even more so eerie to be clutching Severus so tight. Immediately, she backed off and brushed off her robes, blushing. She thanked the good God it was dim in the room.

"Okay," she said at last, whispering. "What now?"

"Lumos!" Severus said, illuminating the passage. "We…look at the map," he said slowly. Harry had already stood up and was brushing dirt off his cloak.

"Dumbledore is at the other end of the tunnel," Harry said. "If we…can sneak in…then we'd be able to conceal Dumbledore and get him out quickly. There's another passage," Harry said, pointing, "at the other end. Really, it's a passage in a passage. That will take us…" he trailed off, checking his map again in Severus's wand light, "to Hufflepuff dormitories."

"Good," Emilia said happily. "Now we must try to pull out the last card from the bottom of the deck of the house of cards. I only hope we can get Dumbledore out quickly."

Severus didn't say anything. He was studying the map, and Emilia assumed he was concentrating on the quickest way to get Dumbledore out. Emilia put a hand on her chin thoughtfully, as the three of them looked at the paper, and finally Emilia voiced something she was worried about for a while.

"Who's going to go in to get him? Harry, you're out of the question…" Emilia said. "But…is it either you or…me."

"I think I should go," said Severus decisively. "I know my way around them best, and I would know how to get myself out of a situation should anything arise."

Emilia wrung her hands. "I think I should go," she replied. "I would be best because…well…they can't kill me. They won't."

"Don't be too sure of that, Emilia," he answered. "They will kill anyone that attempts to take their hostage."

Emilia felt her hands start to shake. "No, really, I think I should go. It would be…better…for me to do this."

"Just so you know," Harry interrupted, "there are only three Death Eaters and Voldemort in there."

"Then it's decided," Emilia said. "I'm going."

"No…wait…"

"Shut up, Severus. I'm going, and that's that," she said firmly. Turning to Harry, she said, "Stay here. Stay right here. I will sneak in, conceal Dumbledore, and get out. The entrance is behind a plant, right? Hidden from view, so if something happens, I'm okay?"

"Yes," Severus said. "But, I still don't agree with this."

Emilia sighed. "I'll be fine. I am the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, aren't I?" Taking the cloak and wrapping it around her shoulders, she smiled. "I'll be back, don't worry!"

Severus still didn't look satisfied. "Wait a second," he said quickly. "I want to talk to you…alone," he added pointedly. Harry took the hint and walked down to the other end of the tunnel. Finally, he turned to Emilia.

"I hate you doing this. You're not fine. You're shaking. You've been sick, and we've both been through hell these past couple days. I don't agree with this at all."

Emilia looked down, away from him. "I know I'm doing something extremely dangerous but…I've been up against Voldemort before. I survived," barely, she thought, "and really, I feel I ought to. If you didn't know…earlier, this evening, Malfoy had surrounded the Gryffindors in the Great Hall. They killed one of the Gryffindors—Parvati Patil—because of me. This is my…guilt…and my revenge. So, please, let me do this."

He grabbed her shoulder and shook her gently. "You're so stupid," he said angrily. "You're going to get yourself killed. You don't know what you're doing. You don't know what they do. If you get caught, you won't live. They'll…do what they do to the Muggle women that get caught. They'll…"

She placed a hand on his. "Severus, your worry is concerning me," she said awkwardly. "This is a weakness. Malfoy…" she paused, remembering what Malfoy had done to her…

He smiled wider. "Oh, I don't know," he said airily, "I can't imagine that he was all that bad…it's been awhile, for him. Could you tell?"

Emilia's eyes were wider than before. Her face felt very, very hot. How did he know…how did that bastard know? She hoped to God that none of them knew what he was talking about…

"I…I don't know w-what you're talking about, Malfoy," she stuttered, willing him not to elaborate on it but trying to feint innocence.

"Sure you do," he said simply. He touched noses with her, his blue eyes glaring at her with every evil inside of him. Malfoy leaned in further, and before she knew what was happening, she was being kissed. It was light, and she realized that he was mimicking Severus. He saw them.

"No. That's enough, Severus," she said coldly, taking his hands off her shoulders. "They will kill you. And that's explanation enough."

She took a step back. She couldn't think, her mind…it wouldn't breathe. "I'm going. If I'm not back soon, then, you were right and I was wrong." She covered her head and walked silently down the passage to the light.

Peering out of the side of the plant, Emilia saw Dumbledore sitting in a chair, his hands bound to straps. He was very complacent, but she could tell he was very, very angry. Emilia assumed that he must not have his wand, because in that anger there was a sense of vulnerability.

She surveyed the room, trying to make the best of the situation. Since she'd graduated, the room hadn't really changed much. The green and stone motif was very much still there, with the fire flickering off the walls and the trinkets that decorated the common room. Voldemort was right in the middle of the room; sitting on a straight back chair and petting something that looked very much like a snake. There was a man next to him, listening to every hiss that Voldemort made. Emilia could tell that it was that traitor Peter Pettigrew. Her father always warned her about him. On the other side of the room, near the entrance, there stood another Death Eater. Dumbledore was nearest her, being watched not carefully at all by the last of the three Death Eaters.

The guard near Dumbledore was summoned over to Voldemort. It seemed they were in deep conversation; none of them looked up at all to anywhere else. The snake was hissing at the lot; Emilia could hear the words the snake was saying…

"I'm hungry…I've not eaten in sssssso long…"

Emilia gulped. Snakes had poor eyesight but very a very good sense of smell. Would she be detected? Emilia took a deep breath to stop her shaking and moved slowly out from behind the plant. The cloak felt so heavy on her, and she was so paranoid that she was about to go insane…

They must see me, they must hear me, she thought quickly. She moved over to Dumbledore, who was the closest, and touched his hand gently. He jumped a little and Emilia feared they would notice—but, alas, they were completely complacent.

Lifting the cloak from over her head and onto him, Emilia saw Dumbledore's surprised expression, as he became invisible. Holding her finger to her mouth, to indicate that he shouldn't make any noise at all, she helped him to stand and they stealthily made their way back to the plant.

The Death Eaters never looked up at all. Emilia felt even sicker. If they got caught, it all would be over…

…But like that, she was in the hall and moving away. She was so glad that Severus knew about this. She remembered what he'd said earlier, about the passage. He said it was a wall that wished to be a door; so in turn, the wall was always an open door. You just passed through the door casually, but it appeared like you were going through a wall. It was so clever and ingenious.

They moved away quickly and saw Severus' wand light in the passage ahead. Emilia took off the stuffy Invisibility Cloak and breathed out loudly. "I hope you're okay, sir," she said, pulling out her wand. Using a Severing Charm, she shredded the straps that were supposed to be binding Dumbledore. "I'm guessing that—you don't have your wand?"

"No, I don't," he replied kindly. "However, I don't require a wand."

"Are you two all right?" Emilia said, walking into the wand light. Severus looked up, and saw both of them standing there, Emilia with her face flushed with pressure and Dumbledore looking well relieved. Suddenly, they heard loud voices.

"WHERE IS HE?" the voice echoed down the hall. "I DON'T WANT ANY EXCUSES!"

"Looks like they've found out," Emilia said tersely. "We really ought to get moving."

Severus looked at Harry, who nodded. The Death Eaters, Emilia knew, did not have a map like Harry's at all in the castle. Severus would have known, and since he said that they were very lucky to have found Dumbledore and captured him so early, Emilia figured that they were just as clueless about the whereabouts of everyone else.

"Here," Harry said. "Alohomora!" The door sprung open, and there showed a long, twisting corridor.

"Let's go," Severus said tensely, and Harry started off at a run, followed by Dumbledore, who, even though was countless years old, was very fast. Severus pushed Emilia through and then he took up the back. Emilia ran with all her might, and the voices and screams started to get fainter and fainter as they made their way up the castle wall and to the Hufflepuff dormitories.

Dumbledore and Harry were so far ahead, that Emilia had trouble keeping up with them. They had gotten a head start, and even though Emilia was fit, she'd been without sleep and suddenly, everything for her began to slow down. Severus kept her going until they came to a fork in the tunnel.

"Oh shit," Emilia said, stopping. "Which way is it?"

"I have no idea," Severus said, walking up next to her. "If you weren't so damn slow, we'd still be caught up with them."

"I'm tired," she replied angrily. "Unlike you, I've yet to have any sleep! I've been up for nearly twenty four hours, and the day…well, I've been through a lot. So leave me alone."

Severus sighed loudly and walked to one side, then the other. "I don't have any clue. There aren't any signs of where to go. No nicks, no marks, in the walls," he said, running his hand against the wall. He walked across the hall, and did the same once more. "Only god damn smooth stone!"

"I would suggest splitting up," she said, leaning against the wall Severus was examining and cross her arms, "but that would be even more stupid than getting lost together in one of these tunnels. Too bad Potter's got the Invisibility Cloak…" Emilia said wistfully. "We could have gone back and walked to Hufflepuff dormitories and got rid of the one inept guard."

Severus didn't say anything. He just let his hand slip off the wall and stared quietly at the wall. It looked like he was doing some quick thinking.

"Why don't we just pick one?" Emilia suggested. "I mean, if we go to a dead end, then we can just back track and pick the right one. It would take time, but it's not like we can go back to the Slytherin Common Room. I mean, not with those Death Eaters there, and everything. And they must know you no longer are under the Imperius Curse. Besides," she added quietly, "they know you are no longer on their side." Malfoy's actions made certain of that.

A couple more moments of silence went by before Emilia got a little angry. "Jesus Christ, Severus, pick a tunnel already! We haven't got all day you know. Personally, both tunnels look the same, so either one works for me." She sat there looking at him, and he did not move. "This isn't a useful waste of time, this is a waste of time. Let's get going!"

Severus looked up at her, wearing a peculiar expression. It was a cross between concentration, frustration and irritability. Emilia gave his a confused look. "Wha-at?" she said in a flustered voice.

"Did it ever occur to you," he said slowly, "that Potter and Dumbledore would have returned if they knew we weren't with them?"

"Not necessarily. They could think that we went the other way on purpose. You know, splitting the group into two?"

"I think that we should come up with a decent idea before we just rush off. That's the way to get us killed, you know."

"Well, I'm not going to stand around her while you feel your way around the walls! I'm going to pick on of these tunnels and follow it, until I come up with another idea. I can't stand around and do nothing when we could be saving Hogwarts! After all, I owe it to everyone—especially that young Gryffindor girl I killed—to do what I can and quickly."

"You aren't going to help anyone by getting yourself killed," he snapped.

"I'm not doing anyone any good standing here either!" she yelled in reply. "I'm going, you can follow me or not." She started walking away, to the tunnel to the left. Suddenly, she felt her hand jerk back, as Severus grabbed her wrist.

"Stop," he snarled, "right now. Stop this."

Emilia jerked her wrist free. "No, you stop this. Do you want to know what Malfoy did, when you were wandering around the school abysmally under Voldemort's control? Do you? You have no idea. And this—this is all your fault!"

"What!" Severus snapped. "What are you talking about?"

"While you were 'running errands,' shall we say, for the Dark Lord, I was leading the Gryffindors into a trap! I went to their dormitories and I got them all out. I led them to the Great Hall, where we were all supposed to meet. But you want to know what we found there? —Death Eaters. The Gryffindors, as you and I well know, are probably the most targeted of all the houses combined! And, they had Harry Potter there as well! So, you can guess what kind of panic I was in. Then, out of the corner, Malfoy showed up. We had a little chat, so to speak, and see this," she said, pointing to her youthful face, "this was caused by Malfoy. His little gift. And he—" Emilia paused.

"What?"

She held her hand to her lips, and hung her head down, blushing furiously. "He…saw us," Emilia whispered.