Disclaimer: As I said before (and will continue to say throughout my chapters just to save space) I don't own anything affiliated with Harry Potter, Severus Snape, and the keys to the black Jaguar in the parking lot (Sorry, dude, here's your keys. You got a sweet car there). However! I do own, and therefore claim, everything else. Deal with it, please. Or I will be forced to not care, cackle like an old witch, and make fun of marshmallow gods.
Derek nodded, "Do you have any extra luggage, animals, or mysterious packages that you would like to stow in the luggage compartment?"
The girl was half-listening to him and mostly scanning the streets for any sign of Voldemort strolling along with wand raised to kill. "No, no, no." she said quickly, "I'm in a bit of a hurry to get somewhere very important at the moment." She thought about her statement and added, "I'm going to visit my uncle."
"Of course, miss." Derek answered calmly, "If you would follow me, I can show you a seat."
"All right." She said briskly, unaware of anything he was saying, and followed him onto the bus.
As the girl walked up on the bus steps, she looked up at the driver's seat. The man seated there was of an indeterminable age, chubby, quite short, a bit on the balding side, and had an overall rat-like appearance to him. She turned away quickly when the man looked back at her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could tell that the bus driver was looking at her as she walked down the aisle. She could feel his silent stare and wish he would just drive the freaking bus.
Once fully inside, she was surprised by the luxurious décor inside. Chintz chairs lined the aisles, lavish carpet covered the floor, and elegant mini-chandeliers were hung gracefully above it all. "Wow, this must be upper-class transportation." She thought in awe, "I hope I can afford it." She held her backpack close to her, like it was all she had left in the world, as she sat down on a nearby chair covered by a deep plum chenille throw.
Derek nodded to the bus driver and the bus moved forward silently along the street and the chandeliers chinked together like crystals in a glass bowl. The girl stared out the window at the passing buildings, as the bus gained speed, and whispered to nobody in particular, "Goodbye, Liverpool."
POOF!
She stared curiously out the window as they were now speeding along a road of a small bohemian city. It was a bright sunny day, wherever it was. Various bright colored double-story houses with patchy green lawns and long driveways flashed by as the bus started to slow. Derek cleared his throat politely before he spoke to the girl, "Well, miss, our next scheduled stop in London won't be for a while. Would you like to rest on one of our cozy beds upstairs or would you prefer to wait on one of these equally comfy chairs?"
She turned away from the window, putting on one of her most convincing fake smiles, "I think I would like to rest upstairs, thank you," she replied.
Nodding his head, he continued, "We charge 10 sickles for the trip, wherever it is you wish to go, and 5 sickles for a bed. I think it is a reasonable price, don't you?" he asked.
"Indeed." She answered. "At least I can afford it," She pulled her backpack open, pulled out her wallet, gave him the proper amount of money, and started to stand up. He held his hand out to help her up and guide her upstairs. A spiral staircase was tucked in the middle of the bus on the right side, between the lavatories. He walked up first and she followed. Deep maroon carpeted stairs and gold tone handrails were a surprise to the girl. "Whoa, I must be dreaming."
They finally reached the second deck and she had to refrain from gasping. Eight small beds were comfortably tucked in rows of four on each side. Four small candelabras hung above the center aisle at the ends of the beds. "I've definitely had too much wine tonight."
Derek outstretched his arm towards the beds, whispering as quietly as possible, "Here is where I must leave. These are the beds and if you need anything please ask me; I will be right downstairs. I must take my post downstairs in welcoming the new travelers. Excuse me." he bowed politely and walked quickly down the stairs. "Why in the world was he whispering?" she thought, puzzled.
She scanned the room, noticing there were other people in here as well. Now she understood why he was whispering. Two middle-aged witches slept in the two beds nearest her on the right side, an elderly wizard was snoring in his sleep two beds away from her on the left side, and a young wizard sat comfortably in the last bed on the right side of the deck. He was reading a newspaper of some sort. "Daily Prophet." she assumed. He was the only person awake, besides her. She took a few steps forward, without thinking, and immediately stopped herself. "Should I sit next to him so I have somebody to talk to or should I just..." she wrestled with her thoughts for a few seconds before she finally decided to sit next to the guy. She took slow steps before she stopped next to the bed he was sitting on. The man glanced up from his newspaper and smiled warmly.
"Hello." He said, folding his newspaper and setting it down next to him.
"Hi." She answered timidly. "Would you mind if I rested here?" she asked, pointing at the bed next to him.
The man shook his head and replied cheerfully, "Not at all, my dear, only if you don't mind talking with me because there is absolutely nobody awake in this place, save you and me." He laughed and then chuckled softly after a grunt was heard from the old wizard's side of the room. She smiled genuinely; her hollow sadness was starting to melt away as she felt she could at least be a little happy to talk to somebody.
"I wonder if I can tell him what happened without having to deal with a lot of panic," She set her backpack down and plopped down on the bed. She turned to face the man who had returned to reading his newspaper. He was definitely reading the Daily Prophet, as she had correctly assumed. She eyed at the man briefly before turning to observe her surroundings. Every bed was covered with a duvet in the same color maroon as the stairs, deep in color, a fat white pillow that lay atop the beds that were unoccupied, and shiny gold curtains were folded elegantly above every window behind each bed.
She shook her head in complete awe at the richness of the bus. She rubbed her eyes and tried to shake her brain to wake up from this incredible dream, but secretly she did not want this to end. As long as she was far away from Voldemort, she was happy. Then, the depressing thought of her parents, and whatever is happening to them, came back like a chronic disease. Her heart fell apart inside and she could feel the sorrow and loneliness coming back. She sat back against the wall at the head of the bed and sighed heavily, fighting oncoming tears. Through her silent suffering, she could vaguely hear the man shift in his bed and put his newspaper away. She felt grief unlikeany she had ever felt before, and she tried not to think selfishly. "Just let my parents live, that's all I ask." she thought desperately to herself.
The wizard stared at the young woman and decided to ask what the matter was, since she was looking increasingly gloomy since she arrived.
"Excuse me," he began quietly, with a bit of concern in his voice, "I don't want to sound prying, but you appear as if something is really bothering you. Are you all right?" he asked.
She lifted her head up in surprise and looked straight in the man's eyes, she had not expected anyone to notice.
"Damn," she thought, "Now I suppose I have to tell this guy everything".
"Um...Yes, I'm—fine." She managed to say without stuttering.
He watched intently, as if trying to read her emotions, and knew that nothing was "fine" when tears were on the verge.
"Are you sure?" he persisted gently.
She pondered for a moment, "Might as well spill it." She gave up fighting her emotions and let her tears fall freely, without sobbing, out of respect for the other passengers.
"No," she said in an unusually calm voice, "I'm not all right. I'm in a terribly dangerous situation and I need to find a man named Albus Dumbledore. Do you know who he is and where I might be able to find him?"
The wizard sat there for a moment, absorbing this information somehow and then answered "Yes, I know who Albus Dumbledore is and I happen to be on my way to a friend's house and we are going to visit him tomorrow." He paused before asking: "May I ask what your predicament is?"
She refrained from crying uncontrollably, but was not able to hide her efforts. In a low whisper she said, "Voldemort attacked our house. I don't think my parents are going to make it out alive. I'm trying to find Dumbledore to ask if he can help me, and I don't know where to go from..." she trailed off, breaking eye contact with the man, so she could wipe her nose on her shirt. "How embarrassing." she scolded herself as she wiped her nose.
Hepolitely offered her his handkerchief. She took it hesitantly and thanked him. "Thank you," she wiped her nose politely, afraid of soaking it, and handed it back. He held up his hand, "Why don't you have it?" he said thoughtfully, "for future tears." She smiled a little.
"Ah, forgive me," the wizard said quickly, "I haven't introduced myself. My name is Remus Lupin. However, I will soon be a teacher at Hogwarts. So, I guess you can call me Professor Lupin." He smiled, which always seemed to melt away her sorrow. "This guy must be an optimist."
"Pleased to meet you," she began to say, "My name is-"
She was interrupted by the loud POOF! and Derek's bussiness tone voice saying, "Mr. Lupin? Miss? We have arrived in London."
Lupin nodded his head, "Thank you, sir. I will be down shortly."
"As will I." The girl chimed in.
"Of course." Derek left down the stairs. Lupin turned back towards the girl and smiled. "Well, let's go, shall we?" he lent his arm cordially. "Nothing gets this guy down, does it?" she took his arm and he helped her up. They both stood in the narrow aisle. "After you," he insisted. "Thank you." She led the way down the aisle, and down the elegant spiral staircase to the first deck. "Do I have my backpack! " she looked at her arm and sure enough, her purple tiger backpack was there.
She smiled at Derek as a sort of a goodbye. He smiled back and said, "Goodnight to you both." as he led them both out the door. The bus driver looked once more at the girl, just to make sure she was who he thought she was, "What will Voldemort think of this?" he thought nervously as she glanced at him once, and walked off the bus hastily.
Once both people were standing on the sidewalk, the Knight Bus drove off and POOF!ed off to some other place in the world. The girl sighed. "Now what?" Prof. Lupin turned on his heel to face the house in front of them. She turned as well to see what he was looking at and gasped. Up ahead stood a ghostly-looking haunted house of some sort. Completely black, the house vaguely reminded her of the muggle TV sitcom, "The Addam's Family." She shivered when a gust of wind blew, drew her jacket around her tightly, and followed Prof. Lupin down a darkly impressive neighborhood.
"Well," Lupin cleared his throat, "Here we are."
Her eyes widened, "HERE! We're going in that place!" and then she said gratefully, "All right. Thank you for helping me. I don't know how to ever repay you." He smiled as they both walked up to the wrought iron gate that separated the house from the sidewalk. The fence wrapped around the entire house and enclosed an exquisitely landscaped lawn. Nothing more than a white rock driveway led up to the supposed manor. A flourishing rose garden lay cozily in front of the long patio that also sat in front of the ominous house.
Once at the gate, Lupin stopped unexpectedly, looked up and down the street quickly, and opened the gate with a strong push. He motioned for the girl to follow him as she stood there awkwardly staring up at the house.. "Poor girl," he thought sympathetically as she followed him closely, nearly holding his hand, "she must be scared out of her mind. I just hope Severus will understand. He probably will," He thought as they took the few steps up the patio.
"I hope there aren't any poltergeists, ghosts, or demons here." She thought anxiously. Remembering what she had read about poltergeists she blinked furiously to clear her already troubled mind of it.
"Professor Lupin?" the girl looked at him.
"Yes?" he looked at his pocket watch then at the girl. They continued walking up to the house.
"May I ask what your friend's name is?"
"Of course," Lupin chuckled lightly, "His name is Severus Snape. But, since he is also a Professor at Hogwarts, you should call him Professor Snape."
Lupin quickened his pace, causing the girl to quicken hers as well. "Slow down, dude," she thought impatiently, "Voldemort isn't behind us." She shivered at the thought of him. She couldn't believe she brought the whole problem up again after she had just gotten over the sheer terror he had caused on her family. "I can't wait any longer until he finally just keels over and dies." She thought again, trembling inside with anger, "I hope he dies soon."
She felt as light as a bubble, almost as if she weighed nothing at all and that she was completely empty inside. With her mother and father back at their house, she didn't want to think of what might be happening now, she felt absolutely alone in the world. It was tragic that she was the last Merlin in the world, assuming her parents might not make it out alive. However, she put the present danger aside and focused on wherever this Lupin guy was leading her to. She noticed the large patio that sat on the edge of the house and gulped. This house was becoming creepier by the moment.
Lining the patio deck were various gothic statues, medieval figurines, and ancient mismatched furniture from another time. All of the items were well preserved, considering their ancient appearance. Lupin stepped in front of the double doors, rang the doorbell twice, and knocked smartly three times. On the third knock, one of the doors were opened quickly and blinding rays of light shone through the opening, outlining the figure of a tall young woman clad in violet robes.
"Hello, Remus." She said in an inviting tone, "So nice to see you again."
"Sorry that I'm late, Helen," Lupin apologized, "I had the delight of meeting this charming young lady on my way here. She needs our help and must travel with us to visit Albus for important reasons." He paused to look up and down the street at the same time that the girl did, expecting Voldemort to walk up the driveway with wand poised to kill. and looked back at Lupin when he continued "Shall we talk more of this inside? Maybe over some nice tea and biscuits?"
"Come inside, please." Helen said pleasantly and stood aside so the two guests could enter the house.
The interior of the house was just like any other house she had seen. Nothing out of the ordinary and definitely not as spooky as she had imagined. Sometimes she let her imagination get the better of her. She walked on deep green carpeting as she passed the entryway and stood on the wooden floor of the hall. The wide hallway branched off into other rooms on each side.
Lighting up the room was a marvelous chandelier that threw rainbow sparks of light in every direction. The sudden change of light from the darkness of the outside caused her eyes to go white and the world started to spin. It really didn't help matters any when her eyes were already light sensitive even when she took her medi-potion. She staggered for a moment and caught hold of somebody's arm without knowing. When her eyes finally came into focus, she looked into two of the darkest black eyes she had ever seen. They belonged to Severus. She straightened up and let go of his arm, "I'm sorry about that." She said quickly, "I just got a little dizzy from the light change." He was only a few inches taller than she was. Considering she was only 5'10", which was tall for a girl. The girl looked at the mysteriously handsome man. She figured he was probably in his early thirties, a bit on the pale side, but quite muscular despite his gaunt appearance. He smiled a little, barely, and replied, "That's fine,". He looked away towards Helen and Lupin standing by the doorway and said to Lupin, "Shall we go to the living room and maybe you could tell me who this young lady is?".
Lupin smiled, "Of course, Severus. This is—" he stopped and blinked several times, "I didn't catch your name, dear. What was it?" he asked her.
The girl switched her balance to her left footand answered, "Oh, my name is Melissa. Melissa Merlin." She felt Severus look at her. "Why am I so attracted to a complete bloody stranger?" she thought.
"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Merlin." Severus reached his hand out to greet her and she took it. "Yes," Melissa said quietly, "pleased to meet you as well..." she trailed off and she tried to remember his name.
"This is Prof. Snape." Lupin introduced Severus to the girl, although she knew his name except she forgot it while thinking about something else, "He is another teacher at Hogwarts. He teaches Potions class. And this is Helen Rymir," Melissa took Helen's hand and said, "Pleased to meet you as well." Lupin continued his introductions, "She teaches Potions at the Wizarding University of London."
"Well," Lupin clapped his hands together, "Shall we further discuss Ms. Merlin's situation in the living room, Severus?" he asked.
"Fine with me." Severus sad passively. Melissa started to follow the two gentlemen into the living room, but looked down at her shoes. Muddy, untied, and covered in grass from her escape. She bit her lower lip and looked around for a place to set them. Helen noticed this and said politely, "You can place your shoes by the door, if you want". Melissa smiled sheepishly and set her shoes by the door. "Thank you." She whispered as she trotted off to the living room, her neon pink toe socks making it difficult not to slide on the hard wood floor. Severus sat on the right side of the fireplace, in a black chair, and Lupin sat in the chair opposite Severus on the left side of the fireplace. Which left the couch in the middle for Melissa. She was secretly glad they were talking instead of waiting patiently for her. She decided to quietly explain her delay, when they stopped talking immediately when she sat down, "I took off my shoes so I would not stain the carpet." Severus raised his eyebrows slightly; "She's pretty damn polite." He thought in amazement. "Thank you for your concern." Severus replied casually.
Melissa's spine tingled once more at the sound of his eloquent voice. "Your welcome." She answered gingerly.
Lupin bewitched the platter of teacups and biscuits to float and offered Melissa to take some. She wasn't feeling altogether hungry, "Oh, no thank you, I'm not feeling well right now." Lupin nodded and let the platter float back down to the table. Melissa twirled her multi-colored hair and stared at the fire directly in front of her. She loved her hair for its unique fire-like appearance. She had black roots that gradually blend to brown, red, orange, yellow, and then finish with white tips. Lupin took his teacup and Severus didn't take anything.
The fire crackled as a calm silence filled the room. "Would you like to explain your situation, Ms. Merlin?" Lupin asked gently.
Melissa tensed. She saw memories flash across her mind like a movie in rewind. Her parent's happy faces filled her head. Old parchments, that were confiscated in raids, flew by. A deep, unfamiliar voice said, "You are the last generation of Merlin." She saw her mother's teardrops, her father's troubled eyes, and she heard the sound of the back door falling to the floor with a sickening thud. Her head was spinning, the room started to blur, she held her head sideways in her hand, and tried to speak, "I don't think—" and then the world went black.She sunk into her chair, head in hand, and was silent.
An awkward silence filled the room. Lupin was about to take a sip of his tea as Severus in between standing up to tend to the fire and still seated. Droplets of water began to hit the window softly while the fire continued to crackle. After a few moments, thinking she was joking around, they found she wasn't. Severus finally walked over to the unconscious Melissa and checked the pulse on her wrist, which was very faint. He looked over at Lupin, nodding his head; "She's out." He said, confused.
"Poor child." Lupin said sadly. "She must be shocked out of her mind." He sighed.
Severus hated not knowing something, "Would you mind telling me what the bloody hell is going on?" he asked impatiently.
"Voldemort attacked her family not more than 45 minutes ago, she ran away, we talked briefly on the way here, she told me that her father told her to find a man named Albus Dumbledore and here we are." Lupin said in one breath. "I figured that Dumbledore should know so I invited her to stay with us, as we are going to see him tomorrow." He finished and then took a long sip of tea and ate a biscuit in a single bite, looking sadly out the window. Severus blinked and was silent for a few minutes.
"Great," he thought furiously, "Voldemort is back. And just when I thought things were going smoothly, something like this has to happen..." he sighed and ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
Lupin sensed his frustration and decided to say, "Severus, I think that you should go to sleep early. I don't think that a late night would do you well in a situation such as this."
Severus looked up at the fire, eyes brimming with rage, "Maybe I will." he said simply. Lupin was completely surprised; he anticipated to be yelled at or given the cold shoulder. "All right then." Lupin said happily, "I'm going to clean up all this." he waved his wand around the platter and walked into the hall and towards the kitchen, incessantly munching on biscuits and humming to the tune of "Fill Your Heart".
Thinking about the new danger of Voldemort on the streets, Severus stood next to Melissa's chair for a minute and gazed out the window, then finally decided to pick her up and bring her to one of the guestrooms. He leaned over, picked her up, and was shocked at how light she was to carry. He shrugged his shoulders and walked out of the living room and into the hall.
Helen came out of the kitchen with oven mitts on, smiling, "What happened to her, darling?" her expression changed to worry. "She just passed out from a long night of worrying." He said calmly. "Well, I'm going to finish up my potion and then I will be up to go to sleep in a bit, okay?" Helen smiled again and kissed his cheek. He turned and headed up a flight of stairs at the back of the hall. He could hear Lupin humming and shook his head, continuing up the stairs. "She seems much older than she looks," he thought as she looked at her solemn face. He finally stepped off the stairs and into the second floor.
Faced with two hallways, a door directly in to the left and in front, Severus took Melissa down the hall on the right. "Merlin," he mused silently. The name could mean that..."she's a descendant of Merlin." his eyes widened and he looked down at her, suddenly aware of something. He now understood why Voldemort attacked her family. Severus immediately looked up to see he was about to walk into the wall ahead. Turning swiftly down a hall to the right, he focused on getting to the guestroom without crashing into a wall and stopped in front of a door. He then wondered how he would open the door without dropping her in the process. Bending his knees to use the hand under Melissa's shoulders, he finally opened the door.
He sighed in relief and then grumbled when he realized he had to turn the light on. Instead, he opened the door to let the hallway light flood the room. In the back of the room lay a grand canopy queen bed, with deep evergreen linen and drapery, in front of a broad window overlooking the garden, a desk on one side of the room and a walk-in closet on the other. Severus walked over to the bed and set her down gently. He thought for a moment, then put her under the covers. A loud yawn startled Severus and he turned to the door to see a zombie-like figure walk down the hall. "Bloody hell, Remus, do you have to yawn so loudly?" Severus muttered to himself as he heard the door to the other guestroom shut. Then, he heard another yawn and realized it was himself. "Better go to sleep myself," he said to no one in particular. He looked at Melissa one last time, to see if she was still breathing, and shut the door on his way out. He walked back the way he came, towards the stairs and continued until he reached a set of doors on the right.
Blindly making his way into his room, for he knew where he was going even if it was pitch black, he turned left and collapsed on his king sized canopy bed. "What a night." he sighed, looking at the small electronic clock on his bed stand. 11:00 P.M. Severus did not feel remotely tired, but exhausted for some reason. He sat up and walked across the room to a door that led to the master bathroom. He turned on the light and opened the medicine cabinet to look for a sleeping potion he had made a few days ago. The small blue green vial was found and immediately downed in one gulp. Severus stalked off to his bed and once he hit the pillow he was out.
Ha! Yes, you are probably wondering, "Who is this "Helen" person? Well, I decided that Severus needs a woman in his life to keep him company, help him tend the garden, and keep him from having a mess house. It will help shape my story from being a random one and hopefully add some character. Thank you for your patience, I will definitely get more chapters up this summer, have faith.