Chapter Nine
Disclaimer on chapter one
Ruby woke up the next morning and she was alone. Had what happened happened? Did Severus Snape hold her until she was asleep? She hoped it wasn't a dream. She thought it felt nice, just to be held like that. She thought, I don't ever have to go back. I could stay here forever. She leaned back against the four poster bed when she heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs.
Severus appeared in the doorway, haggered and dirty. He looked at her and smiled, although he was very exhausted.
Ruby looked at him quizzically, "Where were you? Have you been gone all night?"
His smile was weaker. "I was up all night."
"Why, you didn't have a nightmare too?"
"You could say that." He rubbed his arm. Instant terror struck Ruby. No, she thought, not yet. Please say it is a quidditch injury anything but the mark , please!! He noticed the panic expression on her face.
"What's wrong, Ruby?"
"What happened to your arm," she asked quietly. When he didn't respond, Ruby continued. "Please, Severus, Tell me you didn't do that."
"What?"
"You didn't join the Dark Lord?"
"I...I, had too. I had no choice in the matter."
Ruby turned herself away from Severus and buried her face in his pillow. "You had a choice, you could have said no."
"To say no means..." he paused.
"Death. Well, I'd rather be dead then...
Severus cut Ruby off, when he noticed something. "Would you? Would you rather be dead?" His tone had changed to that that he used with Potter and others he loathed. Ruby didn't answer. All of a sudden, he pushed up Ruby sweatshirt to reveal the Dark Mark on her back. "You obviously didn't. But I can make that arrangement for you, if necessary." He pulled out his wand.
"NO, PLEASE!" she screamed.
"I should have known. It was funny that you called him the Dark Lord. No other wizards call him that, unless they follow him."
"I know...," he cut her off again.
"Did he send you here? I was right in the first place about you, you are a phantom, but it wasn't Potter who sent you."
"Don't go there, do not accuse me..." again he cut her off.
"The Dark Lord wanted to make sure I would say yes, so he sent you to see if a warm body would make the decision for me."
"HOW DARE YOU!" Ruby was off of the bed now and as much in his face as he was in hers. "HOW DARE YOU THINK OF ME AS JUST A WARM BODY! THAT I'm SOME NEGOTIATING TOOL! YOU THINK TO MUCH OF YOUR SELF SEVERUS SNAPE," she yelled.
He yelled back, "AT LEAST I'm NOT A LYING, FILTHY EXCUSE OF A WIZARD!" Ruby felt that her tears would flow over any minute. Snape snarled at her. "Oh, now you are going to cry like a little mudblood."
Ruby punched him in the face. "I HATE YOU SEVERUS SNAPE! I'M SORRY I EVER TRAVELED BY TIME TURNER, THAT I EVER CAME TO HOGWARTS, AND THAT I EVER MET YOU!" She ran from the Slytherin quarters and did not stop until she was by the front doors of the great hall. She was hyperventilating from the tears, and her breath was heavy. She never thought her emotions could go so extreme with in moments.
She did not leave right away. After she regained her composure, she went to Gryffindor Tower and sat in the common room, where she watched Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter, and Lilly Evans just hang out. In fact she watched them for the next couple days, trying to see what they thought of what was going on in the wizarding world, and trying to figure out what made them all so special.
Finally, she decided it was time to return to the future. Was she any better then she was before? She wasn't sure. She Came to the great hall were she had entered this time weeks before. She prepared to turn the time turner, when Nearly Headless Nick past through her. He stopped and looked through her.
"Something wrong, Sir Nicolas?"
"Ah, mister Snape, I'm not sure. I just pasted through that spot and could have sworn I felt something there." Now Snape looked through her. "Must be my imagination." Nick proceeded to float by. Snape stayed staring, black eye and all, at the spot where Ruby stood.
"Ruby," he whispered. Ruby scowled and started to turn the time turner...
"Ruby, I don't know if you are really there, I can't see you," he tried to feel for her, but she moved. He did sense her movement, because he turned in her direction. "I'm.... I'm sorry Ruby. I said some really horrible things that day." Ruby tried to ignore him and continued to turn. "You have every reason to hate me. I screwed up."
She didn't even acknowledge him and was almost done turning. "I know I'll never see you again, but I wanted you to know. I think, I mean I thought..."
Ruby turned and looked at him and for a brief moment, as Hogwarts dissipated, they locked eyes.
"Well we had nothing to worry about," Sabo's voice came from behind her. Ruby looked around and found herself in her garden and Sabo and Mars exactly where she left them. "You'll have to explain how that worked, because no time has passed here." Ruby just nodded as her gaze now stared into the open night sky.
