His voice sounding like the velvetly hiss of a snake to Charity.
"Obliciate? First, you attack me, now you're going...sobliviate me? I'm trying to help you," Charity yelled.
"Of course not, Professor Snape is obviously still confused." Mcgonacall said hurriedly, holding her hands out palms up in a placating manner.
"The word is obliviate," Snape said once more in his infuriatingly soft voice. Charity noticed him eyeing the wands she held clenched in her palm. She put them tightly to her chest, half afraid the man would make another lunge for her.
"Now...the professor's bark is much worse that his bite-" Mcgonacall stopped, she looked unsure of her own words.
Professor Snape arched one thin black eyebrow at Mcgonacall, as if to question her. She frowned, then schooled her features into a stern face. "Well, at the very least he is awake now and the sooner you return our wands the sooner we will leave," Mcgoncall said, clasping her hands together.
Charity scowled at the woman, her attempted mission of mercy was not going so well. She almost wished Joe would come back in. At least then she'd have an ally.
"Please Miss...er, Charity. We just want to get back," Ron whispered. He still had that desperate look on his face, even his freckles were sweating.
Charity sighed, "Alright, but he's not getting his back," she gestured towards Snape. The way his eyes bulged in horror at her words gave Charity a small thrill of pleasure.
"That is entirely unacceptable! This muggle cannot hold my wand hostage," he said to Mcgonacall, pointing a long finger at Charity.
"As far as I'm concerned Professor she can keep it until we're all through the fire," Mcgonacall said shortly.
Charity heard a distinct snicker come from one of the two boys and Snape snapped his head up at the one called Harry. He looked about to attack the boy with some scathing remark but McGonacall interrupted.
"Now, if you would please return my wand!" McGonacall thrust her open palm towards Charity.
Charity pursed her lips but slowly fanned the wands out and held them up. "I don't know which is-" McGonacall plucked an elegant looking wand from Charity's hands and with out a word she turned and hobbled away.
The two boys came over and each took their wands from Charity. She was left holding the black wand she'd been admiring earlier. "I had a feeling this one was going to be his," She thought ruely. The professor stood up from his place on the ground and glided towards her. His black cloak was shrouded in a layer of dustbunnies and dog hair, but he managed to emanate a feeling of detached coolness.
"You won't be keeping that for very long," he whispered before moving off to convene with Mcgonacall. Charity ignored the slight shiver that ran through her and clenched the wand even tighter. "That's what you think, buddy." She thought.
There was a flash of brillant light and the room was cast in the flickering shadows of a fire. Charity turned in time to see Mcgonacall throw some powder into the fire and gaped as it turned purple and stayed that way.
"How..how did you-" Charity faltered when first one of the boys and then the other dissapeared into the flames. Charity ran over to the flames certain that they were being burnt alive, but there was no one inside the violent purple light. She reached her hand out to feel the heat coming from the flames and reassure herself that it was indeed a real fire. Snape grabbed her and pulled her back though. Charity watched him wag his finger slowly and shake his head no.
"Well, I'll see you on the other side professor," Mcgonacall said, casting a funny glance at Charity. She yelled something and stepped right into the fire, disappearing.
Charity just gaped at the man as he stared down at her. She tried to move away but he still had her arm in his grip. He reached his other hand towards her neck and she nearly fainted in fear. His hand clamped over the wand in hers and she realized he was taking his wand back. She had it held closely to her chest.
"This is mine," he said softly, before letting go of her. Charity fell backwards onto the floor. She watched him examine the wand carefully for a few seconds. He smirked grimly then pointing the wand at her, " I do thank you for letting all of us go, but I am afraid, muggle, that you must not be allowed to recount any of this. Obliv-"
Charity screamed as a blast of green light shattered the living room window, knocking Snape of his feet. There was another blast and Joe came flying through the broken glass. He landed with a thump in front of Charity. He was dead. She started screaming and couldn't stop. The sight of her crazy friend lying lifeless at Charity's feet was the last straw in a series of straws. She became aware of two figures standing outside the window, each with a wand pointing at her. She closed her eyes, still screaming, knowing that she was going to die. An explosion of sound made Charity open her eyes and she saw the two men fly backwards. Someone was yanking on her, telling her to get up. She looked up at the crooked nose of the Professor and numbly started to move. He grabbed her by the shoulders and with amazing strength lifted her physically to her feet. He dragged her to the purple fire and muttering something fell into it pulling her with him.
Everything was a whirlwind of dizzying color. Charity felt weightless and heavy at the same time. There was a string tied to her waist yanking on her, pulling her forward with amazing speed. She could feel the professor's body next to hers, holding onto her. It was almost comforting.
Then she hit her head on a cold floor. Gravity was back, and it was asserting itself in a very unpleasing manner. Before she could get her bearings the professor rolled away from her and yelled "Aqueous!" She turned her head to see him putting the fire out in the fireplace with a jet of water that gushed from his wand.
She moved into a squatting position on the floor careful to go slow because her head was beginning to hurt intensly. There were others in the room. Harry and Ron, Professor Mcgonacall and some others she didn't recognize.
"Professor Snape, what on Earth happened?" Mcgonacall asked.