By: TheGreyLady (immaculatecalypso@hotmail.com)
Chapter 10~ Fallen Ones
There was no doubt in Hermione's mind what had happened. Somehow, she and Snape had been found out. She'd figured this to be an inevitability when she first restored him but, foolishly, she thought they would have more time. They should have found Dumbledore, alive or otherwise, by now.
Well, she thought, there goes my spotless criminal record. She couldn't bring herself to regret what she'd done even though she was undoubtedly going to be spending a little time in prison. It was Severus she worried for. He would either be returned to the room or killed. A dead Snape, she could do nothing for.
She and Snape stood in the shadows at a careful distance from the Cathedral. It was closed for renovations, so everyone in the area could be easily observed. While the letter had been written in Harry's penmanship, they couldn't shake the fear of an ambush. It wouldn't be beneath the Ministry to commit forgery.
With the sun gone, they were mercifully obscured within the darkness. The soft yellow light from the streetlamps failed to illuminate the alleyways. Snape had his head ducked over her own, his hands clasped together on her stomach. They both knew what Harry's hurried letter meant but neither felt urged to speak about it. Suddenly, it was looking as though they may not succeed in their mission and every moment between them had to count.
Such a great letdown after such a wild success.
Instead of going home, they began to search Mexico. It was a difficult task, considering they didn't have the points plotted out in front of them. They'd made it to
Oaxaca with little time to spare. They had planned it that way. In the event that this was a trap, it wouldn't do to be lollygagging around any longer than necessary.
"Hermione!" A voice hissed from behind them. She and Snape turned and stared into the darkness until Harry and Ron suddenly appeared from beneath the Invisibility Cloak. Breaking from Snape's embrace, she rushed to the boys and shared hugs with both.
"So tell me, Mr. Potter," Snape said, breaking the group apart. "Exactly how fucked are we?"
Hermione's jaw dropped. Severus had always opted for grace and dignity over more "colorful" language.
"Take a telephone pole and shove it up your arse sideways," Harry muttered, not seeming to take any notice of Snape's word choice. "I think that should give you a clue."
"What happened?" Hermione questioned, trying to wipe from her mind the mental imagery that statement provoked.
"I don't know," Harry replied. "All I know is that the Aurors were all told to round up everyone who was supposed to be in that room along with the people who owned them and bring them to the Ministry…"
"We bought you as much time as we could, Hermione," Ron cut in.
"Fact is, they said that if you and Snape weren't there today you would both officially become fugitives. We told the Order what's going on and they're all behind you. The Aurors are going to lead the Ministry on a wild goose chase. Lupin's offering sanctuary. McGonagall is willing to hide you at Hogwarts."
"Well," Hermione said, "thank them for the offer but the Ministry is bound to check those places thoroughly and we can't risk involving anyone else in this."
Ron smiled briefly, "We told them as much but promised that if it came down to it, we'd send you there. Please tell me you've made progress."
"We think we've found a pattern in Dumbledore's locations," Hermione said, "but we need the map…"
"I've taken care of that already," Ron said. "With Dad working at the Ministry, I had a little more of a heads-up that this was going to happen." He thrust a bag into Hermione's hands, "This is everything in your house associated with Snape, Flamel, and Dumbledore. No point in giving the Ministry a detailed description of where you'll be or what you're doing."
Hermione could have kissed him but settled on saying, "Thank you, you're both the greatest. You'd best get back to the Ministry before you're missed."
Harry and Ron looked at each other for a long moment. "No," Ron finally said.
Hermione was about to speak when Harry cut her off. "Hermione, we've done everything we can at the Ministry; We're only training to be Aurors. We don't have enough status to be useful. We're coming with you. The real Aurors are doing what they can."
"Besides," Ron added, "searching with four people is a lot easier than searching with two… and since you aren't there today, the Ministry is bound to be looking for us to tell them where you've gone. We're in this, Hermione, whether you like it or not. Just let us help you."
"Hermione, I think that your friends," Snape said after having been silent for so long, "may have a point."
She sighed. Having the boys caught up in this more so than they already were wasn't what she'd wanted by any stretch of the imagination. She nodded in defeat and said, "Okay, we are going to have to find a place to hole up in until we can pinpoint the most likely places Flamel and Dumbledore are. Lupin's is out and so is Hogwarts. Our best bet is to find a hotel or something and stay the night."
"Taken care of," Harry said, tossing a set of keys to her. "Teotihuacán. We even had a local Muggle girl get the rooms for us, so there's little chance of being traced to there."
"Rooms?"
"It's a suite, actually. Two bedrooms and a dining area. We've also emptied your vault at Gringotts along with both of our own before the Ministry could freeze the accounts. Better safe than broke."
She smiled. It was good to know that her friends were watching out for her. She'd been worried about the money in her account since Harry's letter arrived, it was the bulk of her money. She'd tucked some away in a Muggle account but knew it wouldn't be hard for the Ministry to find it. If she had attempted to withdraw any cash… the Ministry would know exactly where she was and if they seized it, she and Snape would have nowhere to hide and no money to do it with.
She hoped they wouldn't regret it when they were rotting in Azkaban together.
* * *
The hotel Harry and Ron had picked out was surprisingly nice. The master bedroom sported a king-sized bed and the standard bedroom furnishings. The small desk, two bedside tables, television, and sofa all looked to be in good condition. She'd placed her clothing and such in that room. The "guest bedroom," as she had called it, sported two full-sized beds, television, and nightstands. The dining area had a large table and a kitchenette.
She allowed herself to take a long bath, soaking until the hot water lost its warmth, before rejoining Snape and the boys in piecing together the constellations with Albus' known locations. It was difficult-- some of the signs were incomplete and required many, many efforts at accurately placing them, especially since they had nothing to reference them by.
After changing into a pair of flannel pajamas that Ron had procured from her home, she reentered the room, which they had dubbed, "The War Room." The fact that Snape, Harry, and Ron weren't on the verge of killing each other almost shocked her. They sat patiently in a semicircle, trying to come up with every constellation they could make from the points on the map.
"I had a thought…" Hermione said, "Do either of you know of any internet cafés around here?" Harry shook his head while Ron and Snape just shot her questioning looks. "Fact is, if we can find one, we can easily print copies of the major constellations onto overhead slides and fit them over the map."
"Hermione, that's brilliant!" Harry exclaimed, ignoring the continued looks of confusion from Snape and Ron. "If there isn't one here then there's bound to be one in Mexico City!"
"Internet?" She questioned the confounded pair. They shook their heads. "I'll explain it to you later, then. It's more or less a Muggle version of the Wizarding Wireless."
At that, they nodded. She smiled at Harry. Who said that being raised by Muggles never helped anyone? Harry, stating that there were bound to be some 24-hour cafés, left to find one. Ron released a huge yawn and walked into the guest bedroom to get some sleep. She didn't blame him. Ron was still on London time. She and Snape had been moving around so much that they were easily able to adjust their sleeping patterns. With the little apparition they'd done today, neither felt particularly tired.
She cuddled up next to him, smiling a bit when he placed an arm around her. Until Harry got back, there was little they could do. If she were better at Spanish, she would have ordered food. She settled on an apple from the welcome basket and offered one to Snape.
"If this doesn't work, I may turn myself in," he said after taking a bite.
"What?" she
asked, wondering if she'd heard him correctly.
"Maybe I can play that I was restored by someone else and was fooling you. I'll tell them that I abducted you."
"No… I don't think you understood me," she replied with more conviction. "What?!"
He spoke as though he'd rehearsed this conversation in his mind a thousand-fold, "You're already more involved that I would like. They want me, Hermione, not the best friend of The-Boy-Who-Lived. Fudge wouldn't risk the political suicide of trying you as a criminal if I made you out to be the victim."
"Snape… Severus… we're in this together," she said. "We wouldn't even be in this situation if it weren't for me. I won't let you take sole punishment for this."
"Think of your friends, Hermione. They're only involved in this for you. You would drag them down with you?"
She sighed, trying to figure out how to best convey her friend's motives to the obstinate man, "They aren't in this just for me, Severus. They're in this because they believe that it's right. They're in this because even if they aren't terribly fond of you, they know you don't deserve to be punished since you helped us. I've no doubt that if something happened to me, they would still support you. I'd rather be jailed knowing that I tried than be free because I let them take you."
"Do you truly think so much of me?" He asked quietly.
"Yes. I do," she responded earnestly.
He pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to her neck, burying his face in it. He was giving up; she knew it. Even the breakthroughs they'd had with each other and the map weren't enough to console him from the idea of being hunted again. Since this was her first time as a felon (if breaking into the Ministry and restoring someone from a dark ritual was indeed a felony), she wasn't sure exactly what to expect. From what he'd told her about Azkaban, he hadn't rightly enjoyed his stay there. Even without the Dementors, he'd said, Azkaban was hell.
"You can feel the people who've stayed there," he'd said.
She had a feeling that if he'd seen everything of where his mind was kept, he'd think Azkaban was a walk in the park.
He excused himself to take a shower. She would have recommended a bath but thought against it. Severus Snape was a man of habit, changing that only served to make him uncomfortable. She was almost surprised that she knew that. She knew that she cared deeply for him. If he asked, she would probably sleep with him. But they both knew that would only make the threat of capture more devastating. It was best to keep their relationship stymied where it was.
She knew that if they were to cross that line, separation would only be harder. If… when they found Dumbledore and cleared Severus' name, they could pursue each other in earnest, if they chose. Until then, she thought as she shot a glance at the bathroom door, all we can do is wait.
* * *
Harry returned several hours after she and Snape had gone to bed. When she awoke the next day and walked into the War Room, Ron and Harry were talking. They silenced themselves as she came in. She knew what they were talking about. Harry had without a doubt, seen herself and Severus asleep together when he returned looking for a bed. She thanked the stars when they began talking again. They obviously weren't going to question her.
While she brewed a pot of coffee, Ron spoke. "Can we get a cup of that? Harry just woke up, too."
She nodded, "Did you get the copies, Harry?"
"Yes," he said, shooting her a lopsided smile and gesturing to where he and Ron had been. "I had a bit of a problem with my euros but luckily I found someone willing to buy them off of me."
They sat together, shrinking and resizing the constellations to fit over the points on the map. Hermione had, unsurprisingly, been right. They did indeed match up in almost all of the places. Some, however, were incomplete and required some speculation as to where the other points would be. All in all, it was tedious work.
Snape joined an hour or so after Hermione. The boys ceased their work and openly stared at him with curiosity. He responded with a look that dared Ron and Harry to question him. The pair quickly went back to work. Hermione sighed with relief. They weren't going to question Snape either. Of course, this was hardly the time for the boys to criticize her romantic interests. There was too much at stake.
Snape conjured three perfect copies of the map they had. The map was too small for the four of them to work without crowding each other. She had the distinct impression that he felt crowded enough.
They worked separately, trying to fit the clear sheets of plastic over the points. By lunchtime, they'd only managed to get five locked in. That left a huge number of other places that were unaccounted for according to her theory. She refused to believe that the five they had locked in were merely coincidence. Everyone else seemed to agree with her.
Five days and five hotels later, they had not managed to make any progress of note. Two more constellations had been painstakingly placed and that left dozens of pointed unaccounted for. Severus, in a moment of absolute brilliance, asked for a celestial sphere* and a globe.
Hermione armed herself with Muggle makeup to disguise her appearance. She'd dyed her light brown hair into a deep mahogany and shaded her face to distort her upturned nose and high cheekbones. She was unconvinced that the change was substantial but shocked looks from Harry, Ron and Severus alike told her that she looked different enough. She went to a local wizard's shop to procure both requested items. The globe was what she would have considered standard except for the borders and names of the countries changing according to the times.
The sphere, however, was nothing short of a work of art. The huge glass bauble, which could have fitted at least four globes within it, had needed to be shrunken and protected with an unbreakable charm before she took it anywhere. The beautiful clear glass shone black as night with only a word and the stars within it twinkled with a clarity she hadn't seen since that night in Brazil
Like a dutiful servant, she brought the supplies back to Snape and received only an absent-minded grunt in return. He scrutinized both items for a lengthy period of time before giving her a short nod of approval and an inconspicuous slant of his lips. Without a word, he cleared the table and began casting an intricate series of charms. The points on the map were instantly copied onto the globe in little silver specks.
Severus picked up the globe and pushed it into the celestial sphere, the surface of the delicate glass rippled like water as it engulfed the model. The globe hovered in the center of the orb, he used both shaking hands to manipulate its position. With a whispered word, the glass darkened to swirling gray and lines connected the stars as he continued to turn the globe.
Gasps were shared by Hermione and her friends as suddenly all the points on the globe illuminated into a brilliant white. With another word, the globe dropped and crashed through the glass sphere before meeting the floor.
The tinkling tintinnabulations** of broken glass colliding with the cold floor and their collective breathing were the only sounds that inhabited the room. Slowly, Hermione dared herself forward to examine the globe. Lifting it to the light, faint outlines of each constellation could be seen. She turned to the boys and Severus, who was leaning against a chair, and grinned. In one fell swoop, everything had been accounted for. If only that had thought to do this earlier.
She held up the globe for the group to see. Harry and Ron stared with looks of delight and dismay as they realized that there was much more ground to cover. Severus approached to scrutinize the new map.
Ron sighed and rubbed his neck, "So where should we go first? There are more places than ever."
"Here," Snape said, pointing to a small group of islands. "Crux... The North Star."
*The celestial sphere (while horribly outdated) is still used to an extent today. It follows the idea that all stars rest on a blanket, if you will, that encompasses the earth (think of taking the earth and enclosing it within a ball, stars would be on the inside of the ball and facing the earth.) People thought this was true because stars did not seem to move in relation to each other… then it was learned that stars were actually millions/billions/whole bunches of miles away.
** IT'S A WORD, I DIDN'T NEED TO CREATE IT! Read Edgar Allen Poe, he rocks… or rocked… whatever applies.
Author's Notes- To anyone who requested to be on the update list but are not… rest assured that it is merely human error… not some sort of vendetta. If you wanted to be on the update list and-- for some reason, aren't-- rest assured that I'm just silly. Email/review me again and I'll try better. I'm still new at this thing.
WOO HOO! After more days without power than I wish to remember (damn you, weather god) the Electricity god has chosen to bless me and my roommate again! Bless you, power God! A HUGE thanks to Kate/MoaningMyrtle for making this story readable. Kate, you are my shining star and I don't know what I'd do without you… well, actually, I do. I'd probably suck… honestly… I'd probably suck if I didn't have Kate to catch my mistakes… you'd all be like, "What?!" and I'd be all like, "You'll understand later!" Kate, I love you. If we were both gay, I'd SOOOOOOO marry you… but we're both straight, so I guess I'll go back to my boyfriend and you'll go back to your husband. So I'll leave you with this:
"I'll be watching you," person 1.
"That's illegal," Person 2.
10 points to whomever can name where those quotes came from.
To those who happen to be enjoy angst/fanfiction that doesn't blindly make you smile, I suggest checking out April Grey's piece, "Calling Dr. Granger." It's a nice story, even though it isn't exactly for the light of heart. I told myself that I was going t plug this story after I read her AN about losing readership (especially after I experienced the same.)
Read everything. It's good for you.
BTW!- SailorSpectra, I need your email address to add you to the update list. I checked for it and couldn't find it. I'll try to message you… but I need your email addy to add you. Thankees!
Personal thank-you's will be in the next chapter… sorry, I'm tired.