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MephistophelesBy: TheGreyLady (immaculatecalypso@hotmail.com)
Chapter 8~ In the Cold
"I hate this godforsaken tundra. Albus, of all the idiotic locations…" Snape grumbled as they walked as close to the shore as was safe. Neither had considered the season and, as a result, they were shocked when they apparated and found themselves enveloped in darkness.
It was winter in Antarctica. There wouldn't be sunlight for a long time. They hurriedly cast heating charms on their naked faces. It didn't warm her face completely but at least it made the stinging cold somewhat bearable. Snape just looked annoyed. She was tempted to tell him that his face could freeze that way.
It was an agonizing two kilometers to the house. Why did Dumbledore feel the overwhelming urge to cast anti-apparition barriers everywhere he went? Snape's normally brisk stride was reduced to slow, carefully placed steps for fear of slipping on the ice. Hermione was inches from suggesting they crawl on all fours.
They held hands to keep steady. "I suppose it could be worse…" she chuckled as she watched her breath freeze midair and fall to the ground, "we could be mauled by penguins."
"Hardly," he muttered in a voice vaguely reminiscent of the instructor she'd hated. "Penguins live in the Arctic."
"No, they live in the Antarctic," she corrected him. "I did a book report on them in third grade."
"What book?" he challenged, smirking.
"Penguins of the Antarctic" she responded and shot him a triumphant grin.
Snape was about to say something when the ice in front of them shattered. A huge black figure leaped from the water beneath. They dropped hands and Hermione stumbled back. Losing her footing, she felt her ankle collapse as she fell to the hard ground. Snape had tumbled to the ground as well and was scooting away as the slug-like figure charged at him with frightening speed.
Hermione drew her wand and cast a banishing charm. The creature slid away from Snape and turned its attention on her, releasing a deep growl. She prepared to cast another banishing charm on the charging animal when a flash of green light struck it causing it to crumble to the ground and slide to a stop.
"Is it…?" she began to ask.
"Yes," Snape replied as he crawled over to her. "You're an absolute trouble magnet."
Ignoring his comment, she rose to her hands and knees and made her way to the fallen creature. "It's a leopard seal," she said, giggling slightly as her heartbeat began to slow to a steadier tempo.
He moved next to her and asked incredulously, "What could possibly be funny about the animal that nearly killed us?!"
"They hunt penguins," she replied, shooting him a satisfied smirk.
He gave her a toned down version of his Potions Master stare and stated matter-of-factly, "He was obviously lost."
She couldn't contain the laughter and heard Snape chuckle softly in return. They joined hands again and rose to their feet. A burning pain in her ankle caused her to hiss.
"My ankle," she said. "I can get a better look at it when we get to the house. I'll be fine."
He nodded and clasped her gloved hand a little more tightly. Each of them kept their wands out until they reached the house. Upon entering, Snape lit a fire and searched for Albus, leaving Hermione to tend to her foot.
She sat on the couch and peeled off her boots and socks, wincing slightly at the movement. It didn't appear to be broken but she was having difficulty moving it.
"He's not here," Snape said upon his return, warming his hands by the fire.
"Surprise, surprise," she muttered. The room was warming and she shed her parka.
"We should stay the night here, you don't need to be walking on your ankle," he replied, removing his own thick coat. She could tell he was disappointed.
"I can keep going, Snape," she stated. While she had no desire to go back outside, she refused to be the cause of further delay.
"Don't concern yourself. I could use the rest myself."
She knew he was lying but she let herself take comfort from it anyway. She slipped from the couch to the floor and scooted next to him, placing her own freezing hands closer to the fire. She wanted to undo the pigtails she'd put her hair in this morning. It had been a good idea as her hair would have been a veritable frizz-ball if she hadn't; the wind had been blowing it so hard.
Snape hadn't made any derisive comments on her hair. She found herself wondering why she cared. It would be a cold day in hell when she asked him. On the other hand, she thought with mild amusement while gazing at the ice outside, this highly resembles hell… and it is awfully cold.
When her hands were finally warm again, she pulled her hair out of the braids and massaged her scalp for a minute. Snape slid over and took her injured foot in his hands. "Can you move it?" He asked.
"It's just sprained, I think. The boots supported it fairly well."
He didn't look convinced as he slowly rotated her foot with one hand and held her ankle with the other. It was a nice gesture but that didn't stop it from being painful. She bit back the injured cries while he examined her foot.
"You were a dancer?" he asked suddenly, though his tone was not questioning.
She was taken aback for a moment before slowly replying, "Until I was ten…"
"Ten? Unusual to start someone en pointe at that age."
She gaped at him. "How did you know I was en pointe?"
He brushed a finger over the tops of her toes and answered clinically, "You have very strong arches and your toes are slightly malformed."
"Thanks," she said dryly. "As if I didn't already hate my feet…"
He said nothing and simply cast an anti-swelling charm on the injured joint. He squeezed her foot lightly, "All better," he said, giving her a half smile.
Something passed between them in that moment. The light of the fire danced over his features, making them appear softer. His eyes bore into her own and she couldn't bring herself to look away. She wasn't sure that she wanted to. She could almost see the beauty of his bottled essence radiating from him. Why hadn't she noticed him like this before?
"Your foot should be fine by tomorrow," he mumbled, dropping both her foot and his smile.
"Yes. Thank you," she said hesitantly, wondering what had just happened.
"You should try and take a nap," Snape's quiet voice broke into her thoughts. "We shouldn't stay here any longer than necessary."
"Would you..." she couldn't bring herself to ask him to stay with her. She looked down and cursed herself silently for feeling so very much like a stupid little child.
Without a word, Snape rose and transfigured the couch into a bed. He gestured to it and said, "It will be best to stay in here. The bedrooms are intolerably cold."
It was odd that Snape was concerned with what she cared about, considering they had been sharing rooms at inns for a while. She understood, though, that whatever moment had passed between them was not simply an idea running rampant though her wild imagination. He'd felt it as well.
She took the transfigured sofa and curled up to sleep, listening to Snape as he transfigured another bed from a chair. As they settled into their respective beds, she told herself that this was hardly the time to be fostering romantic feelings for him… but left herself unconvinced.
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When they returned home the next day, no words had been exchanged regarding whatever had happened the night before. She couldn't get rid of the feeling that Snape was merely grateful and he thought…
… Well, she didn't know what Snape thought. The man was an enigma.
She hoped he didn't think she was acting out of a deranged savior complex. Snape wasn't the kind of man that took well to being saved. She didn't want to explore the feelings she knew she was developing for Snape. She was afraid of the answers that could be found.
They'd returned silently to her home. Snape dropped her hand once they reached the outer layers of the anti-apparition barrier and didn't pick it up again. Oddly, she found herself missing the contact. However, growing fond of Snape was something she would have to deal with… growing attached to him on the other hand…
That would only hurt her. Snape wasn't a man of moonlit nights and romance.
But why not? Part of her had argued. It hadn't been placated with the simple answer of, "Because he's Snape." Stupid sub-conscious. As if its disturbing images weren't already haunting Hermione in her sleep, it felt the need to plague her during her waking hours as well. Her brain was really beginning to irritate her.
They traveled unceremoniously upstairs and plopped themselves down in front of the map. A single choice needed to be made. Where should they look next? Hermione suggested North America because Americans would remember someone speaking with a British accent. Snape had argued that when they reached Canada, they'd be once again under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Magic. Best to leave North America for last.
He proposed Asia; with the relatively low number of Caucasians inhabiting the countries, Dumbledore was sure to be noticed. She had to agree, stating that after Asia, they should then search South America. He agreed. They finally had a game plan, now they were left to play by it.
Hermione was soon contemplating the map again with Snape, happy that her brain was again doing something useful. She was unable to shake the feeling that she was missing something important. She'd already connected the points incessantly and it left her with no results. Dumbledore, in spite of many of his actions, wasn't a man of random activity. There had to be a pattern here. She'd already tried applying the principles of Arithmancy and came up once again blank.
When she found Albus Dumbledore, she'd strangle him.
Discouraged once again, she went downstairs in search of food. Snape had, perhaps, noticed her agitation and remained pondering the map in silence. She'd cooked breakfast again, despite the sun setting in the sky. She had forgotten to go to the store and buy groceries so eggs and ham would have to do.
After a half hour of cooking, she prepared plates for Snape and herself and returned to her bedroom. The sight of Snape bearing a ruler and a pencil as he traced light patterns on the map amused her. Great minds… she thought.
"You're trying to distract me," he said in monotone, ignoring the food she'd brought.
"I was hungry," she replied in the same tone, "Thought you might be hungry as well."
He gave a noncommittal grunt, so she set his plate on the desk and sat on the bed to eat her own meal. A tapping sounded on her window and she was delighted to see Hedwig perched there with two letters. She let the owl in and welcomed it to have some of her ham.
Opening the first letter, she saw it was from Harry. He hadn't found anything of note in regards to Dumbledore or to the room. She shredded the letter in disappointment. The second was from Ron- stating the same. He also apologized for the Patil sisters' behavior. He hadn't known they would be so malicious and promised not to send either girl again.
She shook her head at the words. She wouldn't have guessed it, either.
Ron had managed to smooth over her behavior to the girls. For that, she was incredibly grateful. Anything suspicious could easily expose her and Snape. Once again, she was glad that she had decided to take a sabbatical after school. Harry and Ron were the only people she had kept consistent contact with. Nobody else thought anything of her absence.
Snape sighed with great frustration and sat at her desk to eat his food. He hadn't really made much eye contact, so to speak, since last night. They'd overstepped their boundaries, even she knew that. He was obviously well versed in the school of "If We Pretend It Didn't Happen Then It Didn't Happen." Ignorance is bliss.
It wasn't as though she was eager to have a discussion of her-- she shuddered-- feelings with Snape.
"Are you having any luck?" She asked.
He shook his head no. "The man didn't do a thing in his life that wasn't calculated. Why he should start doing so now is beyond me."
"Do you think we're giving him too much credit? Maybe," she conceded, "there isn't a pattern here. Maybe he just likes to visit these places."
"Explain Antarctica, then," he said in a voice that clearly stated that Albus Dumbledore was rarely overestimated.
"Perhaps he liked the penguins."
He snorted but she thought she detected a smile behind it. "The seal was lost."
"And obviously hadn't seen a penguin in weeks! Months, even! Poor thing must have attacked us out of sheer desperation." She sighed whimsically, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye, "It's tragic."
He responded with a soft kick to her leg as he said, "I've tried every pattern I can think of. Mathematical equations, charting them in the order he mentioned them, historical battle sites…"
"Nothing?"
"I'm this close, "he said, holding his thumb and forefinger barely a millimeter apart from each other, "to asking you to contact Sibyll."
She shuddered visibly, prompting a short laugh from Snape. "You're trying too hard," she said.
"And I suppose you've come up with something?"
"No, but I did manage to make a smiley face in Asia."
"Where?" He challenged incredulously.
She stood up and took the pencil. Going to the map, she traced two circles over two red pins, then drew a crooked, curved line through a few of the yellow pins, and topped it off by tracing a large lopsided circle around it all. She looked at Snape triumphantly.
"What about the other pins?" He said, obviously holding back the laughter at the stupid looking face.
"Freckles?" She shrugged before erasing her drawing. Snape shook his head at her, wearing his typical smirk. He took another pencil and stood to help her with erasing the eyesore, muttering that she should have invested in some art classes. At that, she delivered a playful elbow to his side.
"Don't make fun of my artwork. It's bad enough that you made fun of my feet," she said nonchalantly. After several moments of silence, she turned to look at Snape. He was staring at her again. His expression was unreadable. All efforts of avoiding eye contact went out the window as she found herself lost again in a moment that shouldn't have been happening.
Not even completely aware of her own movements, their faces moved closer.
He brushed her lips so with his so lightly it registered as almost a whisper against them. It was a soft, sweet kiss. His hand smoothed over her hair and came around to cup her face as he deepened the kiss slightly. As quickly as it had begun, he pulled away, his face masking itself in a façade of indifference.
"Oh boy…" Hermione muttered. They'd managed to leap over the edge of reason once again and do something they'd been trying to prevent.
Snape quickly dismissed himself from her room, taking his plate with him and closing the door behind him with a resounding click. She sank to the bed, unable to tear her eyes away from the closed door. The clock chimed midnight and seized her attention from the absence of her most peculiar partner in crime.
She sighed disgustedly. She needed to get some sleep before they began their tour of Asia tomorrow. Moping about for a man that seemed to want no kind of relationship with her was only going to make this quest more difficult. She changed into her nightshirt and went to bed.
When she awoke from nightmares in the middle of the night, Snape had not come to comfort her.
She didn't want to know why that had only her feel worse.
Author's Notes- Yes. This is late. Yes. I'm sorry about that. I had tests this week in school and I got stuck trying to change a few things around to make this chapter become more authentic in my mind. Thanks to everyone that reviewed, personal thanks you's will be posted soon. And a majorly huge thanks to my beta, MoaningMyrtle/Kate for making this chapter make sense in my poor, misguided brain.
Thank Yous-
Lama- Hmmmmmm… what could Albus be doing? And yes, angry Snape is cute. Thanks for the interest! Hope you like this chapter.
Risi- I think it's REALLY funny that you mentioned penguins in your review. I mean… I've just read it and I'm laughing my ass off. Thanks for the review and keep letting me know what you think.
Barbara Kennedy- Thanks! Trust me, it's only going to get stranger. Lemme know if you want to be placed on the email listing. Thanks again!
Lee74- Thankees! You make me smile!
Hidden Allusion- I really LOVE your name. Thanks for the review!