Chapter Four: On the Run
As soon as she was awake the next morning, she started stuffing items into her trunk haphazardly. She made her way around the house, (avoiding Snape's room) to check for things she might have left behind. When she went to grab one of her books she left in the potions room, something stopped her.
She was staring at the cauldron as though entranced by it. The sight of it made her feel guilty.
The contents of that potion were the only thing that could save Snape's life, but here she was, abandoning it, ultimately forfeiting Snape's life.
A heavy seemed to make her heart sink into the pit of her stomach. She went to reach for the book, but she was frozen solid. She couldn't move a single muscle. She was suddenly paralyzed with...fear.
What would happen is she did leave? Would he die? Of course he would Professor Dumbledore told her this, and you could always trust Dumbledore. Then again, things had gotten so weird between snape and herself. She didn't know what was on his mind, or how she felt about her, but she did not like him the way in which she thought Snape liked her.
Back in Snape's room, he had only just awoken to find Lorish standing at the foot of his bed, apparently awaiting for him to awake. He was annoyed by his presence, as he did not like anyone standing over him as he was sleeping or waking.
"What is it Lorish?" Snape asked in a tired voice.
"I just thought you should know that breakfast will be up in about ten minutes. Also, Miss Granger is leaving. I saw her packing her things and muttering things under her breath. I don't think she will be returning Master." Lorish said sheepishly.
A wave of fear swept over him. He felt so stupid. He was sure that it was because of his foolish, actions last night that Hermione was leaving. He was certainly not going to beg her to stay, but he needed her help so badly...he did not want to die.
"Lorish, fetch her at once and bring her straight to me!" He commanded, sitting up in his bed.
Snape waited a few anxious moments before Hermione had knocked quietly on her door.
Hermione was pretty sure what was coming, he would ask her to stay, but she had already made up her mind...she was leaving.
She stepped into his bedroom....more and more nervous with every step. She could not face him after that awkward moment last night.
Before she could say anything, Professor Snape started speaking as soon as he saw her face.
"Granger. I am under the impression that you are leaving. Now surely, you would not just pack up and leave without telling me? You are the only one who can brew that potion right now and you are just going to leave me here to die, when the other night, you told me that you would not let that happen. You are in Gryffindor, Granger, and therefore you should be very thick-skinned and courageous and brave, which means that you should not be giving up on me. I know that something happened last night, I will not deny that. I was feeling a bit drowsy and not myself, and well, I am sorry that it happened. I can barely recall what happened, I did not intend to make you feel uncomfortable, but I was not acting out of my own choices. I was under the influence of stress and no sleep. Still...something embarrassing happened that I know shouldn't have. Bear this in mind – I do not have feelings for you or fancy a relationship of any other with you rather than teacher and pupil. I am not going to beg you to stay Granger, which Im sure you know I wont, But Im simply going to say this- I am in dire need of your help. I have unwillingly laid my life in the palm of your hands. I have been unkind to you in the past , and I am sorry. I am just trying to cope with the fact that the only person who can save me life is leaving me to rot in my own home. Don't do this Granger, you will regret it." He said, with an enormous amount of strength. It didn't sound as thought it was a threat, but she had nothing to say to him after that. Clearly, he had gotten out everything he needed her to hear. Hermione was absolutely speechless and couldn't think of a word to say, so she merely nodded and left the room, hoping that would suffice him for the moment.
Snape saw her nod and leave the room. He had said what he needed to say, and had taken the nod as an understanding of this. Hermione was not going to leave after all and he was going to live. A slight smile appeared on his aged face as he lay down for a nap. Little did he know....
Hermione was downstairs packing her truck and walking out the door, intending to never return.
Hermione was so confused... she felt like she was being torn in two. Snape's explanation hadn't been quite enough to convince Hermione to stay...or perhaps it had been, it was just the fact that Hermione was so determined to leave.
She had left so much behind in a matter of minutes... and the consequences would be unimaginable.
Leave Snape there ultimately meant he would die. But Hermione just couldn't take the pressure! She had always excelled at pretty much everything she did, but that image of Snape's face, staring so closely into her eyes, was haunting her every thought.
As she got to the nearest deserted street, Hermione dragged her trunk along and stuck out her wand with her right hand.
Suddenly a violently purple bus had appeared out of nowhere right in front of her eyes. She had no means of transportation of getting back to her house and this was the only thing she could thing of.
The first thing she saw was Stan Shunpike hanging off of the brass pole of the Knight Bus looking around for whoever had called upon his assistance.
"Well 'ello there Miss. What can I do you for?" Stan asked, "Oh right....Hello. My name is Stan Shunpike and this is the Knight Bus, the emergency transportation for the stranded witch or wizard. Where can we take you today Miss...What choo say your name was again?" Stan had said.
"Patil. Miss Patil." Hermione lied. If Snape had found out she had left yet, he might have called Dumbledore and they would probably trace her down so she used a fake name.
"Well, Miss Patil," Stan said suspiciously, "Where can we take you today?" said a pimply faced Stan.
"Knockturn Alley, Please..."Hermione asked. That was the last place possible they would look for her. Hermione was always telling Dumbledore how much she hated that place and how much it gave her the creeps.
"'Choo wanna go there for?" Stan asked, "That's a dodgy place Miss..." He said innocently enough.
"Just take me there please." She said, extremely annoyed with Stan. Hermione handed over some coins to Stand and climbed aboard the bus, and found herself a comfy chair right behind the driver.
"Okay...Take it away 'Ern!" yelled Stan, and with an enormous BANG, they were traveling on some road, nowhere near where she had just been.
While Hermione was traveling along, and watching all of the other occupants on the bus get off at their stop, the thoughts of Snape and what had happened were drifting away from Hermione. Suddenly she heard Stan call her stop and as soon as she had put her feet back on the ground, all of her troubles came rushing back to her.
She had stepped out onto Knockturn Alley and was facing an Alley full of dangerous, dark shops, with wizards who were equally unnerving. Hermione did not want to come her but...this was the place no one would expect her to be.
Stan threw her trunk after her and with another BANG, the Knight Bus disappeared again.
She had her wand ready, trunk behind her and started making her way down Knockturn Alley. She didn't know what to do next. Sure, she would never be found here, but how long could she avoid Dumbledore and whoever else was looking for her. She decided she had to find a place to stay and avoid all Ministry workers until she had heard of what she dreaded...Snape's death.
But then she realized that is she appeared out of nowhere right after the person died that she was supposed to be saving, it would be very suspicious.
She then decided to find an Inn, stay there for the night, and then travel to somewhere distant, and uninhabited, where she could stay for a long while. This all seemed so far-fetched to her, but she could NOT return to Snape's or her own house, which she was sure, people were searching this very moment.
She walked down the dingy, dirty alleyway, looking for sign for any Inn or Lodging place. Finally, after a few minutes of searching she found an Inn with a sign that read 'Flaming Karkus Inn'. This did not sound very homey, but she had nowhere else to go. She entered the building and found a table to sit down and rest at before she got her room.
She noticed the place was very much like the Hog's Head. There were very few windows, and the ones present were covered in so much filth that you couldn't see through them if you were right up against it. All of the tables and chairs were dusty, suggesting the presence of no one for a long period of time, and none of them were matching either. The bartender appeared to be no taller than 4 feet, and had a missing eye, and no teeth. Looking around further she noticed one man sitting in the corner of the building, but it was so dark in there, she couldn't make out who it was.
But suddenly...the man she had just spotted started walking over to her. As he got closer and closer she couldn't recognized him, even as he was sitting right across from her. She didn't know what to do, so she grasped her wand firmly in the pocket of her robes, and was ready to attack. The man leaned in close to her and she suddenly realized who it was... She gasped in horror.
"Ah, Miss Granger, I was expecting you..." said the man.
As his face moved into the light...Hermione saw that she was staring straight into the eyes of Albus Dumbledore himself. Hermione's eyes were wide with fright, she couldn't even begin to think of how Dumbledore had found her.
"Well, I can see you obviously weren't expecting me..." Dumbledore said softly, "We need to talk Miss Granger."
"But Professor, how did you find me here? I mean I always say how this is the place I hate the most and no one would ever find me here..." Hermione said, and suddenly stopped realizing what mistake she had made.
"Well...one would assume that if you ran away, you would go to somewhere no one would look for you. Since you always talk about how much you hate it in Knockturn Alley, I decided to take a stroll in that precise place. You are a very clever witch Hermione, but sometimes, you think about things too hard." Dumbledore said with a crooked smile.
"Yes, right." Hermione said nervously, "What is it you want to talk about Professor?" she asked, hoping it would be about anything besides Snape.
"I decided to make my way over to Snape's home to see how he was doing, making sure the potion was going good and you found yourself comfortable there..." Dumbledore said. With these words, Hermione rolled her eyes. "However, Snape's house-elf is under the impression that you have left, for good. Now Miss Granger, I believe I did tell you how grave this situation was and I am shocked that you—" but he was cut off.
"I know where you are going with this, and I assure you, sir, that if the situation had turned out differently and certain things hadn't happened, I would be at Snape's house working on the potion right now. However, I had my reasons to leave and now I cannot return...you wouldn't understand Sir..." she said quietly.
"Ah, but I think I do Miss Granger. I have someone with me here in this very Inn who has given me enough information to understand what happened." He said matter-of-factly.
"Who Professor? Snape isn't here is he? If he is I just want to-" But just as Hermione was defending herself, she saw a small shadowy figure appear from behind Dumbledore. He was small enough that he could have been hiding there the whole time. As the small figure moved closer, she could see he looked rigid, as if bound by rope that no one could see. Then Hermione finally made out who it was.
"Lorish!" screamed Hermione. She wasn't exactly sure what else to say.
"Yes, this is Snape's house-elf as you already know Granger. After asking Snape, he let me talk to Lorish in person. Now understand, he was forced to tell me anything as I am his master, but as we talked I became suspicious of him. I divulged what he told me to Snape, and Snape gave Lorish...clothes. You know what this means already Granger." Dumbledore said sadly, "However, he had reason to. He was not such a faithful house-elf, Hermione. He did something terrible, it took him a long time to tell me, and a few drops of Veritaserum, but eventually, he told me everything." Dumbledore said, not looking proud of what he had done.
"I don't understand Professor..." Hermione said curiously.
"Not yet, of couse." He said and he motioned to Lorish. "Go on," he said kindly. "Tell Hermione what you did."
Lorish took a seat in a rickety looking chair next to Dumbledore and looked like he was about to cry. She didn't know if she would tell him everything, but if the Veritaserum was still in his system he would, and Dumbledore wouldn't let him escape without telling her the truth.
As Lorish spit out his first word ('Please'), tears starting streaming down his cheeks so fast that Hermione was sure they would be drowning in no less than a minute. Lorish tried to spit a few more words out, but failed.
Dumbledore took out his wand and tapped it on Lorish's head, muttering something Hermione couldn't hear.
"Go ahead Lorish," Dumbledore said calmly.
The spell seemed to have calmed Lorish. He stopped crying and he looked up at Hermione.
"Lorish is not a bad elf, miss. But Is having to do it. I had to..." Lorish said innocently.
"What did you do Lorish?" Hermione asked, very frustrated.
"Lorish had to make you leave Miss, you didn't belong at Master's, I is having to do it" he said with an evil look behind his eyes.
"What did you do Lorish?" Hermione asked again, getting angrier with Lorish by the minute.
Finally,Lorish sat up straight, looking her in the eyes as though something had instantly changed his mind in his head and said, "Mudblood! I has to tell you nothing!"
"LORISH!" Dumbledore shouted in a menacing tone. "I will not have you speak to Miss Granger like that!"
Hermione was extremely surprised. One minute Lorish had been crying his big, round, eyes out, the next minute, he was firing insults at Hermione. She thought Dumbledore would be able to control him, but Lorish kept screaming at Hermione. She blocked most of it out, trying not to get too upset, but she caught a few things like; "Filthy blood" and "Not right for me to looks at her!"
Finally after a few minutes of trying to contain Lorish's screaming and raging, Dumbledore withdrew his long wand from inside of his emerald green robes, and for a moment, Hermione thought Dumbledore was going to do something to Lorish. However, Dumbledore muttered something under his breath and a silver sparks shot out of it. Suddenly, a gold goblet appeared at the table.
Hermione wondered why he would be conjuring drinks when they had a ranting house-elf to deal with, but instead of Dumbledore drinking it himself, he passed it onto Lorish and said, "Here Lorish, drink this. You'll feel much better!"
"I is drinking nothing from you, TRAITOR!" Lorish screamed aloud.
"No, I insist Lorish..."and with a flick of Dumbledore's wand, Lorish appeared to have suddenly changed his mind. He began drinking from the golden goblet and after he was finished, appeared in a sort of trance. Lorish sat down again and Dumbledore leaned in to whisper in Hermione's ear.
"Seems the veritaserum's effect stopped quicker than I thought, but, no worries! I have taken care of it!" He said softly and leaned back into his chair giving Hermione a feeble wink. "Now, Lorish. Where were we?" he asked. "Ah, yes. You were just going to tell Miss Granger here what you did..." he said with a smile.
Lorish looked right into Hermione's eyes. "Lorish will speak..."
Lorish leaned rather close to Hermione. She looked a bit scared but wanted to know what was going on.
"Tell Miss Granger why she is here, Lorish!" said Dumbledore.
Lorish appeared to be hypnotized by what Dumbledore had said. As soon as Dumbledore had finished speaking Lorish's eyes gazed straight ahead and began to speak.
"Lorish was angry with Miss being at Master's house. They was not needing Lorish's help no more. Lorish became very envious of Miss being with Master so he had to Make Miss leave. Lorish put a bewitching sleep on Master so Miss would think he was dying. When Miss went to makes the potion, I is putting a small amount of a love potion in the bottoms of Master's goblet on his nightstand. When Miss came up to room, she poured potion into flask and it mixed with Lorish's love potion. Later, Master began to feel things about Miss beyonds his control. This would make Miss uncomfortable and want to leave. So she did, and now Lorish is happy, but without Master..." he stammered. "My plan is not working as I is hoped. But filthy miss is gone and that was Lorish's intentions."
Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was shocked, but still happy to hear it. However angry she was with Lorish for what he did, she was so completely happy that Snape didn't actually act out of his own choices. He hadn't wanted to kiss Hermione, he was only under the spell of the love potion! She was elated for a few moments before her rage with Lorish began to catch up with her.
"Lorish how could you? I made that potion because I feared Snape would die! I was really truly afraid he would not make it! I put my own....my own..." she said softly. "I put my own blood in that potion to try and save him!" and before she could control herself, tears began trickling down her cheek. She couldn't explain why she was so upset, it was just too much for her at that time.
"Well I think that is enough question for you Lorish. And Miss Granger, I believe you will be returning to Professor Snape's, will you not?" he said gently.
"Y-yes, Professor. But how will I get there? The Knight bus was dreadful!" Hermione said. But as she was saying this, Dumbledore pointed at the golden goblet left on the table and he pulled out his wand and said; "Portus!"
Hermione knew he was making a portkey out of the cup.
"I believe you know what to do Miss Granger. Professor Snape will be expecting you." Dumbledore said while taking a hold of Lorish's tear soaked hand, "Come, Lorish. You may have not been the best house-elf, but I believe we can find some employment at Hogwart's!" he said.
As he turned to walk out of the door, he looked at Hermione and smiled, with a twinkle in his eyes.
"On the count of three Granger," he said while he was leaving, "One..."
Hermione grabbed a hold of the goblet.
"Two..."
She was extremely nervous to be going back...did snape know what happened?
"Three..."
And Hermione felt the all too usual feeling of a hook grabbing her behind her navel and her feet left the ground in a hurry, and before she knew it, her feet planted back down on the ground right in front of Snape's bedroom door.