*A/n: its almost done! The next chapter is the last. reveiws are
appreciated... much love, and happy reading*
8. Remember why you came
He had awoken, his eyes slowly opening. Hermione felt relief wash over her for second, but only a second as she looked back down at the now opened eyes that held an expression like that of a man silently screaming. His eyes wide he pushed her off him.
Severus bent to the side, vomited, and preceded to tell her they needed to leave,
"Now."
"What?" Hermione's eyes flickered across his face. Sure she was ready to go, but he lived here. This was his home, how long had he lived here? Was he even a wizard citizen anymore? He couldn't just go back to the real world. Just look at him, The sweat dripping down his face, the pale look of a man who has never seen the light, and for certain the moment he moved above ground a pack of owls with long overdue notices would attack him.
He didn't want to stay with her, did he?
Severus stood up moving to the bathroom to continue vomiting, as she sat unsure on his bed. She hadn't fucking asked for this. And she couldn't just bring him to her door and shove him into Ron and say...
"Hi, honey I missed you horribly, say remember our old dear professor Snape, well he needed to get away from his home in hell for a bit. He's going to stay here, okay with you?"
...Severus was saying some sort of incantation and she saw her coat fly into the room and his belongs packing themselves into an indefinitely small trunk. She sat and stared. He wasn't kidding. And being that he never kidded before this, it shouldn't had come as a surprise. Hermione slumped as she felt the sheet pulling itself off the bed.
Trying to regain her posture Hermione stood absent mindedly rubbing her arm staring at him, willing him to notice, to look up from the trunk neatly packing itself. He didn't. Hermione coughed slightly.
"Severus?" She said, finally getting him to look up, and where in she immediately recognized fear. She had seen fear in so many eyes. Fear of little boys and girls as she carted them into those doors, watching their body cram into and top of each other. The fear burned on that little child as she kissed him on his cheek and said goodbye, slamming the door shut on his face, pushing him onto the crowd, and walking away, pretending to not feel like climbing in after them.
"It's winter out there, right?"
"Yes." She admitted knowing that asking any more would yield just as many answers. He had picked up a cloak, flung it over himself and she followed suit slipping on her coat, the leather sticking to her hot sticky skin. Severus, bent down, kissed her on her forehead and shoved her out the door, following her stumbling form out with the trunk floating behind.
Resigning Hermione stepped down the stairs knowing that this was probably the best choice, And Severus threw a bag of what she supposed to be money on the counter, it falling heavily as the bartender looked at her. She reached in her pocket for her own money, but Severus shook his head at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder escorting her out of the door.
And there they stood waiting for that manhole cover to descend, the light from above spilling down, Hermione staring at him, his hair gleaming in the sun. And she breathed, it was all too perfect, them just escaping like this, running off into the sunlight. She just couldn't do it. He was running away. She couldn't let him run away. Hermione turned and walked back to the building, knowing he would question her.
"Where are you going?" His voice barked at her, in a desperate attempt at intimidation
He was too afraid to go above by himself.
"Back" she called over her shoulder stopping at the door, waiting for him. Hearing the soft settle of the manhole cover. He had choose now.
"You can't stay here!" Severus's own voice betraying him. Sounding a bit too load, desperate almost.
"Yes I can, I'm a big girl now." Her voice was now the soft and calm one, cutting into the air.
"You know what's down there, I know you saw my memories, and even if your not afraid of it, I don't give a rats ass. You are leaving." Severus pointed, hand shaking. He was standing there vulnerable as she looked at him, shaking her head.
"I didn't see anything."
"Yes you did, I know that healing spell!" She had performed a mental pull, she had to have seen it, the most emotional moment, he was never emotional...
" I saw Dumbledore funeral, now if you would please just tell me what the hell you are so damn uptight about.."
Damn it, he cursed himself, feeling more bare and exposed. That damned funeral being his most sappy and gooey moment, seen by the likes of Granger. She was probably convinced he had a heart now. Her Gryffindor romantic visions now fluttering.
Severus walked over to her, looking down at her eyes they looked back searching. He took a deep breath knowing he was going to regret this and bent down to kiss her forehead, closing his eyes and concentration trying to damn the flow of thoughts spilling into her head.
He felt them pass, the pain, and fulfillment, sorrow and agony slipping past him, and felt her body convulse periodically underneath him. And eventually he felt her crying into his chest and he pulled away feeling it was time to stop. She had seen enough. He had seen enough and he sank to he ground with her entangled in his arms, as she sniffed.
"We can't just leave"
"Yes we can" He whispered back shushing her.. He felt her body stiffen.
"No, you can't just leave that and expect nothing." She said it slowly as if talking to a small child with no capacity that everything they said on the television wasn't true, and that Holley from Jamboree really didn't have a pet unicorn. But she was the one sniffing in his arms like a 4 year old. Severus felt his blood pressure rise.
"I" Severus began, she pulled out of his grasp standing up, her Gryffindor tendency of overpowering, talking a hold of her.
"No, how naive do you expect me to believe you are?" She shouted at him.
"How naive are you" He said quietly back at her fuming face. She was angry. He just wanted to leave. He wasn't taking this seriously enough. Just let it be and maybe everything will be all right. God knows the only reason it stayed in that room was because it had him to do its dirty work for it. Or maybe it had left, and he just never knew it.
She was walking away again, towards the other direction, towards the darkness. He got up and caught up to her. She didn't even acknowledge his presence. They just walking in a silence till they reached the end. And she stood there, almost astonished that it really did exist.
"And what are we going to do once we get there?" He asked exasperated, suddenly tired. He wanted to be done with this. Why was she being so stubborn?
"I don't know"
Hermione looked down at her hands, and up at where she was going, and in turn found another hand nestled in between her fingers. The warm weight pressing her hand. She wanted to be mad with him, she wanted to keep up the act but she couldn't. She stood in front of the black veil and looked at him. Finding herself wrapped in his arms, the unforgiving voice whispering in her ear.
"We don't have to do this Hermione, what is here stays here, please, I'm tired of this."
"We don't know for sure." Was her reply and she lead him onto the dark, a swallowing and suddenly she felt alone though his hand still clung to hers.
Hermione could spend hours describing the walk, the putrid smell of burning bone and the fear that somehow had bore into her sole. How she clung closely to the arm of a man who mad it quite evident that no words should be spoken. She walking along in silence crushing underfoot and the falling of flesh bouncing back, and then the voices. Hermione closed her eyes in the darkness and blocked them out. The voices, some of which she knew. Voices that drove a chill into her spine. And pulling close he stopped her. His body guiding hers. The feel of him pushing her in and then the light coming back.
Hermione hide herself in his chest, her eyes water from the light sneaking around into view and she felt him absent-mindedly rubbing her, feeling her, and comforting her. She wanted to be comforted. She wanted to feel reassured. She couldn't. And when he opened that door and he shoved her in she felt nothing but uncertainty. And then she opened her eyes.
She saw absolutely nothing. There was a stone chamber, gray and lit by some unobtainable bright source. A small old bloodstain on the floor. But there was nothing, no antichrist, no demon, nothing.
Hermione heard him shut the door and her thoughts raced effortlessly through her head. He must not had lied to her. He wouldn't' have. He couldn't have lied because he was standing there now, pulling her in, his labored breath, her frantic heart beat. The demon must have gotten away. She knew this would happen. This is why she told him to come back, why was he so painfully naive? He wasn't supposed to be naive, he was supposed to be the smart calm collected one, he was the one listening to her yell and rant and rave and he was to calmly reply.
"Do you see now? Please Hermione can we please leave?" His breath whispered to her ear. Hermione held him closer
"I knew it would get away..."
"Get away?"
"Yes, its probably out somewhere doing only god knows what, look at what it did to you, and you one of the strongest people..."
Severus's pulse beat louder in his ears. She was going on her eyes darting everywhere but that one spot, where two gleaming eyes shone back at them.
"Hermione, it is still here"
Hermione turned around and saw nothing. Her hand beginning to shake, she shook her head. He had gone mad.
"No Severus, it's not here. Was it even here to begin with, was this all in your head? " Hermione began to become even more afraid, she watched how his eyes flashed back and forth like he was seeing something. He really was insane. He was going to kill her and he had dragged her down here to do it. Was this ceremonial?
"Hermione!" He shouted desperately, trying to get her to see what he so evidently saw, the smile paling on the lips of the man sitting behind her, the smile lines forming some sort of ill and controverter pattern. He was standing up and Hermione was shouting going on about how he was insane... she was insane, she should see it, was she too damn pure to see it?
And then it took out a knife that Severus never knew the figure to have. the blade giving a glint as it rammed into her. A pained shriek sounding and echoing within the small walls of the room, and Severus sunk to the ground with her, catching her as she fell, blood on his hands, and a stab at his heart.
And the old man in front of him kneeled and looked at Severus, the wicked grin still on his face. The merry twinkle still playing at his eyes. The knife though had disappeared.
"I've done all I can for you Severus" It contrived and with a small wink and a nod. The life in the body fell away. The body of Dumbledore fell dead to the ground too, it rotted away to only a small bit of flesh stuck to the bone, flesh melted away in front of Severus's eyes. Severus shut his eyes and willed it away. It didn't work though.
Because when he looked down and saw the knife in his own hand.
8. Remember why you came
He had awoken, his eyes slowly opening. Hermione felt relief wash over her for second, but only a second as she looked back down at the now opened eyes that held an expression like that of a man silently screaming. His eyes wide he pushed her off him.
Severus bent to the side, vomited, and preceded to tell her they needed to leave,
"Now."
"What?" Hermione's eyes flickered across his face. Sure she was ready to go, but he lived here. This was his home, how long had he lived here? Was he even a wizard citizen anymore? He couldn't just go back to the real world. Just look at him, The sweat dripping down his face, the pale look of a man who has never seen the light, and for certain the moment he moved above ground a pack of owls with long overdue notices would attack him.
He didn't want to stay with her, did he?
Severus stood up moving to the bathroom to continue vomiting, as she sat unsure on his bed. She hadn't fucking asked for this. And she couldn't just bring him to her door and shove him into Ron and say...
"Hi, honey I missed you horribly, say remember our old dear professor Snape, well he needed to get away from his home in hell for a bit. He's going to stay here, okay with you?"
...Severus was saying some sort of incantation and she saw her coat fly into the room and his belongs packing themselves into an indefinitely small trunk. She sat and stared. He wasn't kidding. And being that he never kidded before this, it shouldn't had come as a surprise. Hermione slumped as she felt the sheet pulling itself off the bed.
Trying to regain her posture Hermione stood absent mindedly rubbing her arm staring at him, willing him to notice, to look up from the trunk neatly packing itself. He didn't. Hermione coughed slightly.
"Severus?" She said, finally getting him to look up, and where in she immediately recognized fear. She had seen fear in so many eyes. Fear of little boys and girls as she carted them into those doors, watching their body cram into and top of each other. The fear burned on that little child as she kissed him on his cheek and said goodbye, slamming the door shut on his face, pushing him onto the crowd, and walking away, pretending to not feel like climbing in after them.
"It's winter out there, right?"
"Yes." She admitted knowing that asking any more would yield just as many answers. He had picked up a cloak, flung it over himself and she followed suit slipping on her coat, the leather sticking to her hot sticky skin. Severus, bent down, kissed her on her forehead and shoved her out the door, following her stumbling form out with the trunk floating behind.
Resigning Hermione stepped down the stairs knowing that this was probably the best choice, And Severus threw a bag of what she supposed to be money on the counter, it falling heavily as the bartender looked at her. She reached in her pocket for her own money, but Severus shook his head at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder escorting her out of the door.
And there they stood waiting for that manhole cover to descend, the light from above spilling down, Hermione staring at him, his hair gleaming in the sun. And she breathed, it was all too perfect, them just escaping like this, running off into the sunlight. She just couldn't do it. He was running away. She couldn't let him run away. Hermione turned and walked back to the building, knowing he would question her.
"Where are you going?" His voice barked at her, in a desperate attempt at intimidation
He was too afraid to go above by himself.
"Back" she called over her shoulder stopping at the door, waiting for him. Hearing the soft settle of the manhole cover. He had choose now.
"You can't stay here!" Severus's own voice betraying him. Sounding a bit too load, desperate almost.
"Yes I can, I'm a big girl now." Her voice was now the soft and calm one, cutting into the air.
"You know what's down there, I know you saw my memories, and even if your not afraid of it, I don't give a rats ass. You are leaving." Severus pointed, hand shaking. He was standing there vulnerable as she looked at him, shaking her head.
"I didn't see anything."
"Yes you did, I know that healing spell!" She had performed a mental pull, she had to have seen it, the most emotional moment, he was never emotional...
" I saw Dumbledore funeral, now if you would please just tell me what the hell you are so damn uptight about.."
Damn it, he cursed himself, feeling more bare and exposed. That damned funeral being his most sappy and gooey moment, seen by the likes of Granger. She was probably convinced he had a heart now. Her Gryffindor romantic visions now fluttering.
Severus walked over to her, looking down at her eyes they looked back searching. He took a deep breath knowing he was going to regret this and bent down to kiss her forehead, closing his eyes and concentration trying to damn the flow of thoughts spilling into her head.
He felt them pass, the pain, and fulfillment, sorrow and agony slipping past him, and felt her body convulse periodically underneath him. And eventually he felt her crying into his chest and he pulled away feeling it was time to stop. She had seen enough. He had seen enough and he sank to he ground with her entangled in his arms, as she sniffed.
"We can't just leave"
"Yes we can" He whispered back shushing her.. He felt her body stiffen.
"No, you can't just leave that and expect nothing." She said it slowly as if talking to a small child with no capacity that everything they said on the television wasn't true, and that Holley from Jamboree really didn't have a pet unicorn. But she was the one sniffing in his arms like a 4 year old. Severus felt his blood pressure rise.
"I" Severus began, she pulled out of his grasp standing up, her Gryffindor tendency of overpowering, talking a hold of her.
"No, how naive do you expect me to believe you are?" She shouted at him.
"How naive are you" He said quietly back at her fuming face. She was angry. He just wanted to leave. He wasn't taking this seriously enough. Just let it be and maybe everything will be all right. God knows the only reason it stayed in that room was because it had him to do its dirty work for it. Or maybe it had left, and he just never knew it.
She was walking away again, towards the other direction, towards the darkness. He got up and caught up to her. She didn't even acknowledge his presence. They just walking in a silence till they reached the end. And she stood there, almost astonished that it really did exist.
"And what are we going to do once we get there?" He asked exasperated, suddenly tired. He wanted to be done with this. Why was she being so stubborn?
"I don't know"
Hermione looked down at her hands, and up at where she was going, and in turn found another hand nestled in between her fingers. The warm weight pressing her hand. She wanted to be mad with him, she wanted to keep up the act but she couldn't. She stood in front of the black veil and looked at him. Finding herself wrapped in his arms, the unforgiving voice whispering in her ear.
"We don't have to do this Hermione, what is here stays here, please, I'm tired of this."
"We don't know for sure." Was her reply and she lead him onto the dark, a swallowing and suddenly she felt alone though his hand still clung to hers.
Hermione could spend hours describing the walk, the putrid smell of burning bone and the fear that somehow had bore into her sole. How she clung closely to the arm of a man who mad it quite evident that no words should be spoken. She walking along in silence crushing underfoot and the falling of flesh bouncing back, and then the voices. Hermione closed her eyes in the darkness and blocked them out. The voices, some of which she knew. Voices that drove a chill into her spine. And pulling close he stopped her. His body guiding hers. The feel of him pushing her in and then the light coming back.
Hermione hide herself in his chest, her eyes water from the light sneaking around into view and she felt him absent-mindedly rubbing her, feeling her, and comforting her. She wanted to be comforted. She wanted to feel reassured. She couldn't. And when he opened that door and he shoved her in she felt nothing but uncertainty. And then she opened her eyes.
She saw absolutely nothing. There was a stone chamber, gray and lit by some unobtainable bright source. A small old bloodstain on the floor. But there was nothing, no antichrist, no demon, nothing.
Hermione heard him shut the door and her thoughts raced effortlessly through her head. He must not had lied to her. He wouldn't' have. He couldn't have lied because he was standing there now, pulling her in, his labored breath, her frantic heart beat. The demon must have gotten away. She knew this would happen. This is why she told him to come back, why was he so painfully naive? He wasn't supposed to be naive, he was supposed to be the smart calm collected one, he was the one listening to her yell and rant and rave and he was to calmly reply.
"Do you see now? Please Hermione can we please leave?" His breath whispered to her ear. Hermione held him closer
"I knew it would get away..."
"Get away?"
"Yes, its probably out somewhere doing only god knows what, look at what it did to you, and you one of the strongest people..."
Severus's pulse beat louder in his ears. She was going on her eyes darting everywhere but that one spot, where two gleaming eyes shone back at them.
"Hermione, it is still here"
Hermione turned around and saw nothing. Her hand beginning to shake, she shook her head. He had gone mad.
"No Severus, it's not here. Was it even here to begin with, was this all in your head? " Hermione began to become even more afraid, she watched how his eyes flashed back and forth like he was seeing something. He really was insane. He was going to kill her and he had dragged her down here to do it. Was this ceremonial?
"Hermione!" He shouted desperately, trying to get her to see what he so evidently saw, the smile paling on the lips of the man sitting behind her, the smile lines forming some sort of ill and controverter pattern. He was standing up and Hermione was shouting going on about how he was insane... she was insane, she should see it, was she too damn pure to see it?
And then it took out a knife that Severus never knew the figure to have. the blade giving a glint as it rammed into her. A pained shriek sounding and echoing within the small walls of the room, and Severus sunk to the ground with her, catching her as she fell, blood on his hands, and a stab at his heart.
And the old man in front of him kneeled and looked at Severus, the wicked grin still on his face. The merry twinkle still playing at his eyes. The knife though had disappeared.
"I've done all I can for you Severus" It contrived and with a small wink and a nod. The life in the body fell away. The body of Dumbledore fell dead to the ground too, it rotted away to only a small bit of flesh stuck to the bone, flesh melted away in front of Severus's eyes. Severus shut his eyes and willed it away. It didn't work though.
Because when he looked down and saw the knife in his own hand.